Sunday, February 28, 2010

The life of Abd el Kader (1808-1883), the Algerian emir who heroically resisted French colonization and became a legend, illuminates the problem of terrorism in our time if we let it.

The emir would have found the screeds of Osama bin Laden irreligious and the Taliban unenlightened. He was almost certainly aware of the puritanical teachings of Abd el Wahhab (1703-1792), which underpin the Saudi Arabian state and much of today’s fanaticism, including the Taliban’s, but he looked instead to Sufism, the mysterium within Islam, for daily guidance.

Like all Sufis, he would have deemed legalitarian and canonistic strictures to be obstacles along the spiritual path. And in this he illustrates an inherent tension not only within Islam but also within Christianity and Judaism, the other two great monotheistic religions. Christianity had its Peter the Hermit, preaching jihad, but it also had its Saint Teresa of Avila consorting with angels. Islam had its Ibn al Arabi, the emir’s 11th Century spiritual guide, but also its Hasan ibn al Sabah, lord of the assassins. It had its enlightened Abbasids and Umayyads and its bloody-minded Almoravids. Judaism had the Qaballah but also the Zealots.

Sufis, like Christian mystics, do not insist that others are wrong and they are right. And this inevitably makes them suspect in the eyes of religious zealots who insist there is but one right way, one path to union with divine principle. Sufis, like Christian mystics, are always under suspicion in authoritarian states. In the best of times in such states they are tolerated subversives. But under enlightened rule, such as Umayyad Spain and Elizabethan England, they have thrived and shown astonishing creativity. It is difficult to imagine how impoverished poetry would be worldwide without mystics.

The mystical tradition within Islam is irreconciliably at odds with fanatics like Osama bin Laden, Mullah Omar in Afghanistan, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Iran and most of the Saudi clerics. An enlightened foreign policy emanating from Washington would take this into account, knowing that Sufism is a far greater force in Islam than the current paroxysm of terrorist rage. Terrorism is rooted in fear. Sufism is rooted in love, as is the Christian inner tradition. Unfortunately, American foreign policy seems more comfortable dealing with fear than love.

In the West the mystical path—read Evelyn Underhill’s Mysticism for an overview—diverges from all narrow and fundamentalist views of religion. And no matter how many times doctrinaire or simplistic preachers seem to prevail, mysticism reemerges as if refreshed by oppression. This phenomenon is as familiar to Muslims as it is to Christians. That is why Emir Abd el Kader’s example and leadership is so memorable. It is why he is remembered with reverence while Bin Laden will be remembered through history as a bilious murderer. Abd el Kader believed in equanimity, chivalry, forgiveness, all Sufic traits. Bin Laden believes in slaughter.

Fundamentalism, however, is one thing, Islamophobia and plain looniness quite another. Islamophobes are hard at work trying to make both Israeli and Muslim extremists instruments of the Apocalypse. A narrow view of religion does not necessarily make one an Islamophobe, and Jews would be wise to remember that today’s Islamophobe is tomorrow’s Jew-baiter. I’m thinking of the Crusaders who warmed up for the First Crusade in 1096 by killing thousands of German Jews in Mainz.

Abd el Kader is the leader the Arabs need today. Instead they have venal, corrupt and hypocritical leaders who encourage extremism on the sly while cozying up to the West officially. It would be difficult to cite a single Arab leader today for magnanimity, compassion and scholarship, virtues for which Abd el Kader is celebrated. Certainly not the murderous Al Qaeda jihadists, and certainly not the corrupt leaders with whom we regularly consort.

When Gamal Abdel Nasser was still alive his portrait was ubiquitous in the Muslim world, and today he is still regarded in some quarters as a kind of modern Saladin. But a better role model is Abd el Kader, because Nasser, while savvy and bold, was neither a scholar nor a metaphysician. He had a vision of pan-Arabism but no world view. If the Arabs wanted to test the West’s intentions towards them instead of entertaining the idée fixe that the West is irredeemably exploitative, they would raise up the likes of Abd el Kader among themselves. France failed his test because its intentions were mixed at best and rapacious in practice. What of ours?

The war on terrorism is ill-named for many grave reasons, not least of which is that if we must wage war it should be on zealotry. Then it would logically have to be waged not only on Muslims but also on Christians and Jews. We do not wish to carry the war to the West Bank or to Texas, where it also belongs and where extremists often are the tail wagging the dog, as indeed they do almost everywhere else, and so we fight foolishly at exorbitant cost in Afghanistan and pretend that our generals know best simply because they are trained to win wars.

This is the right moment, the exact moment in American history to step back from a mindlessly accelerating conflict and take in the breadth of the entire picture. For decades Saudi Arabia, acting diplomatically as if it is our best friend in the Middle East, has countenanced and even financed fundamentalist madrasahs that have bred implacable enemies of the West. The British used to warn us about this, but what have we ever chosen to learn from them? Israel, putatively our closest ally in the Middle East, has countenanced Zionist extremists who have no intention of negotiating with the Arabs about anything, especially not land seized in war. And we have winked at banks too big to fail that have fattened on our war debt. The money we have spent in Iraq and Afghanistan would have been much better spent encouraging Muslim moderates through education, medical science and diplomacy. War is a shortcut to nowhere. The Saudis have set the example we ourselves should follow: education. Where they have educated terrorists we should educate moderates. But our own extremists, and Israel’s, go all gaga about war because it is so easy to misdirect patriotism and so difficult to explain that extremism in all its guises and in all nations is the real enemy.

But if the Arabs need the great emir, so does the West. So does Israel. As surely as the United States would have crumbled without Abraham Lincoln, so we will continue to polarize and pull apart if we do not find leaders of his stature who will conserve our human and capital wealth to rebuild our diminished prosperity and close the gap between rich and poor that has been widening since the 1970s.

With the help of a media establishment in the service of an amoral corporate oligarchy, we have fashioned a culture that fears knowledge and prefers received ideas, a culture that spawns fanaticism. The media’s impulse to hype the slightest disagreement and to turn discourse into contest has, with the lucre-vending lobbyists, polarized the population.

It was Ibn al Arabi’s grand idea that we are co-creators of an evolving cosmos, recruited and anointed by a divine principle to co-create the world by our actions and thoughts. This profoundly alchemical idea instructed Abd el Kader in his long conflict with French colonialism and won for him worldwide and lasting admiration. Ibn al Arabi’s enduring and extremely influential ideas do not readily coexist with legalitarian and canonistic interpretations of Islam or any theology. They are essentially theophanic and therefore worrisome to anyone who intends to use religion to inhibit inquiry. Moreover, Sufism, like Christian mysticism, is essentially hermetic, so that it may be said that any regime that deems it necessary to suppress it is by definition regressive.

Abd el Kader waged war wisely and as honorably as it can be waged. He spared prisoners and often returned them if he could not shelter and feed them. He showed mercy and wisdom. He waged no war on the innocent and he despised the cruel as much as he despised the French exploiters whom he fought. In a land with a profound Sufic tradition he never uttered a word that suggested that as a ruler he might oppress hermeticism.

Had not the old enmity between Arab and Berber prevented him from raising the Berber Kabylia region against the French he might well have defeated them. That enmity in itself is a backstory to the larger conflict between tolerance and fanaticism, for it was an army from Kabylia led by fanatics that brought down the famously tolerant caliphate at Cordoba. This same calamity returned to haunt Abd el Kader. And today the Amazigh people, who comprise at least a third of Algeria’s populstion and are called Berbers by others, clamor for the autonomy required to preserve their culture. It is not unlikely Abd el Kader, unlike the present government, would have given it to them. Like Barack Obama, he was a synergistic thinker whose prime impulse was to unify rather than divide. But this impulse was no more in vogue in his day than it is in ours, because it is so much more personally profitable to leaders to divide us than to unite us. Polarizers, extremists, that is, should on the face of things be distrusted, but to civilization’s great misfortune they are often seductive. A unifier like the emir and Abraham Lincoln is exceedingly rare, but extremists are cheaper by the dozen.

His place of honor in the Western mind is admirably defined in Abd el Kader in British and American Literature, published last year by the CELAAN Review at Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, New York. Edited by Rachel Heavner, it is a compendium of letters, poems, songs and press clippings about the emir. The review’s editor, Hedi Abdel Jaouad, is the director of Skidmore’s Center for the Studies of the Literature and Arts of North Africa. He is writing a biography of Abd el Kader.

PESHAWAR: Glowing tributes were paid to great mystic poet, writer and pioneer of modern Pashto ghazal, Amir Hamza Khan Shinwari, at a seminar held here Thursday to commemorate his 16th death anniversary.

Speakers including scholar, poet and short-story writer Syed Tahir Bokhari, director of the Pashto Academy, University of Peshawar, Dr Rajwali Shah Khattak, Dr Afsar Khan and Dr Masood said Hamza Baba had a multi-faceted personality and was legend of the 20th century.

Amir Hamza Shinwari Adabi Society and Tribal Union of Journalists had arranged the anniversary programme divided into a seminar and Pashto ‘mushaira’ where poets recited their Pashto poetry.

In the first session, Tahir Bokhari read out a paper on Hamza Baba, throwing light on his life and achievements. Hamza Shinwari had named Tahir Bokhari of Chota Lahore in Swabi popularly known as Bachajee as successor of his own school of thought in Tassawuf (Chishtia Nizamia Niazia).

Bachajee has to his credit translating seven books of Hamza Shinwari in Urdu including the famous ‘Tazkera-e-Sattaria’. Recalling his association with Hamza Baba, Bokhari said he was a poet, drama and film writer and critic, but also a scholar.

Dr Rajwali Shah said after Khushal Khan Khattak and Rahman Baba, Hamza Baba enjoyed wide popularity and was the legend of the 20th centaury. He was founder of the modern Pashto ghazal and earned the title of Baba-e-Pashto Ghazal. However, he deplored that the Pakhtuns did not recognise his greatness and the status he deserved.

Talking about the style and subject mater of Hamza Baba’s poetry, the speakers said people like him were born in centuries. Born in the border town of Landikotal, Khyber Agency, Hamza Shinwari not only contributed to Pashto literature through poetry, drama and film writing but also wrote in Urdu, especially prose, they added.

The speakers said Hamza’s poetry was a guideline that could bring the society out of chaos, especially in the prevailing situation of violence and uncertainty. He always called for peace, love and respect for humanity, they said, adding that giving some one title of ‘Baba” was not just a word of respect, but itself the title that very few deserved in Pakhtun society.

The literati said more work was needed on Hamza Baba contribution to prose like his more than 400 dramas, novel Naway Chapay and travelogues. Haroon Shinwari, president Hamza Baba Adabi Society, said the society had been arranging Baba’s death anniversary programmes regularly for the last eight years, however, the provincial government should officially observe the day as an acknowledgement of his services to Pashto language and literature. He called for more research to popularise the work of great poet in other societies and languages.

Through resolutions adopted on the occasion it was demanded of the provincial government to expedite work on Hamza Baba Academy, staff be provided to the library at Hamza Baba complex, Jamrud Road be named after great sufi poet and Pashto be introduced compulsory subject till 10th class. Noted writer and columnist, Salim Raz, Prof Abaseen Yousufzai, Dr Masood, Kalim Shinwari, Wali Khan Sarhadi, Wasim Akram Shinwari were among those paying tributes to Hamza Baba.

Friday, February 26, 2010

ADDIS ABABA — Somalia's transitional government and a recently-armed Sufi group will sign an agreement in March to join hands in "fighting extremism", Ethiopia's foreign ministry said on Saturday.

Somalia's Deputy Prime Minister Sherif Hassan Sheik Aden and Ahlu Sunna wal Jamaa's spiritual leader Sheikh Mahamoud Sheikh Ahmed met in Addis Ababa for more than a week to thrash out a deal in response to the rise of the militant Islamic Shebab.

"Both parties have agreed to mobilise Somalis inside and outside the country to fight jointly against the onslaught of extremism, to preserve Somali tradition and custom," the Ethiopian ministry said in a statement.

"Both sides will now take the agreement back to their respective constituencies and carry out extensive discussions. The final agreement will be signed during the first week of March," it added.

Under the agreement, a national panel of ulemas, or Muslim scholars, will be formed to come up with a framework to "protect and preserve the traditional Somali Islamic faith", the statement said.

Sufism emphasises the mystical dimension of Islam and includes practices considered as idolatry by the strict Wahhabi sect followed by the Al-Qaeda-inspired Shebab.

Sufism is still dominant in clannish Somalia, where clan founders were often also Muslim saints, but its leading clerics have voiced concern that hardline Islamist groups such as Shebab were slowly eradicating it.

Ahlu Sunna wal Jamaa ('The Companions of the Prophet') took up arms in 2008 after Shebab started hunting down Sufi faithful and desecrating their holy sites, notably in and around the southern Somali city of Kismayo.

The usually quiet group held its inaugural "war council" in Nairobi in November.

Shebab controls around 80 percent of southern and central Somalia, and since his election a year ago President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed and his administration have been pinned down in a small area of the capital.

The conflict-wracked country's shaky government is planning a nationwide offensive against insurgents, which Shebab says will be met with all-out war. Related article: Sparing civilians key to Somali offensive

Thursday, February 25, 2010

In Ahmedabad,when a child is sick,worried parentsoften carry the infant to a tiny dwelling in a Jain neighbourhood,the humble shrine or gokhlo of Hasti Bibi.An empathetic Muslim woman whose ability to heal through laughter has accorded her saintlike status,Hasti Bibi (the laughing saint) does not stop to check whether the teary eyes are that of a Hindu or Muslim parent.

Tejal Vadke,29,the owner of a jewellery shop opposite the shrine,prays to her every day."During exams,we used to keep our pen at the shrine before we left for the exam centre.Whenever I am faced with any problem,I come to Hasti Bibi for help and she has always made me smile," says Vadke.His father brought young Tejal to the shrine when he was a boy.

The gokhlo is a simple marble cavity with a clay lamp resting on a bed of roses and mogra.Its most endearing feature is that it is built fairly low in order to allow a child to peer inside."Hasti Bibi was a family member of Hazrat Sheikh Bin Abudullah Al Edrus,a sufi saint.She was given a boon by Allah that whoever comes to her doorstep with any worries will go smiling due to her pious nature and devotion," says Mukhtiar Ahmed Arab,caretaker of the shrine.Although this is a communally sensitive area,both Hindus and Muslims worship at the shrine on Thursdays."On Thursdays,people start coming from 6 am and this continues till late in the night," says Arab.

If the child gets well,the parent can light a stick of incense,or,give the laughing saint the one treat she most enjoys,a hot jalebi.

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

“It’s a source of pride for a lot of Nashvillians, you hear it all the time: ‘We have the largest Kurdish population in the country.’ It’s funny how they recognize that. It’s almost like a sports team,” says Meryl Taylor, manager of the Metro Services Refugee Program (Jubera:2005).

Nashville has always been labeled as the music city, but it now appears that the city has another role. After Nashville Public Television began airing their 2008 documentary program entitled “Next Door Neighbors”, Nashville also became known as “the new destination city,” as it has embraced countless refugees and immigrants, and now represents ethnic groups from all over the world. The Kurdish lifestyle as portrayed through the documentary reveals a hardworking and grateful group of people that proudly show off their successes in American society.

In the spring of last year, The Tennessean emphasized the increasing popularity that the state had as an immigration destination. A reporter at The Tennessean, Chris Echegaray, points out that the state has gained nearly 200,000 foreign-born residents since the beginning of 1990. In particular, Middle Tennessee stands out, where one group has distinguished itself so thoroughly in Nashville that parts of the city are commonly referred to by the name of their homeland. “Little Kurdistan” represents the nation’s largest Kurdish population, and according to the director of Kurdish Achievers, Mwafac Mohammed, the population is estimated to be up to 11,000.

Producer at NPT, Will Pedigo, acknowledges Nashville’s Kurds as a significant part of the Kurdish Diaspora, and adds that the community here represents the Kurdish capital of North America. Most of the Kurdish population in Nashville consists of Kurds from Iraq. In conversations with members of the national Kurdish American Youth Organization, they point out that other states with major Kurdish populations, in addition to Tennessee, are California, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Texas and Virginia.

The history of the growing Kurdish communities in the U.S. goes back to 1976, when the first of four waves of Kurdish refugee resettlements came directly to Nashville. At the time, the Catholic Charities of Tennessee was responsible for the refugee and immigration services and the Diocese of Nashville hired Bill Sinclair as a refugee resettlement caseworker. Drew Jubera points out that it was a “happy accident” that the first wave to arrive in the 1970s happened to come to Nashville. Proximity to the army base, Fort Campbell, where they were received, and a booming economy led them to establish their community in Nashville. These Kurds were fleeing a failed revolution in Iraqi Kurdistan. The revolutionary attempt had begun in 1961, although the Kurdish rebellion – initially supported by the United States and the Iranian regime – began in March 1974. However, when Saddam Hussein entered into an agreement with the Shah of Iran at the expense of the Kurdish rebels, foreign support came to an abrupt end and the Kurdish population was left vulnerable to the vengeance of the Iraqi regime. Consequently, hundreds of thousands of Kurdish people sought exile in neighboring countries, while some were brought to the United States.

A number of Kurds from Iraqi Kurdistan continued to arrive in the year that followed, though the greater part of the second wave that came in 1979 were Kurds from Kurdistan of Iran. These Kurds escaped because of their opposition to the theocratic system that would follow the Iranian revolution that, under the auspice of Ayatollah Khomeini, endeavored to overthrow the Shah and replace his government with an Islamic Republic.

The third wave took place between 1991 and 1992, and is assumed to be the largest of the four waves. This wave included Kurds who desperately fled the genocidal campaign, known as Anfal, imposed by the dictator Saddam Hussein in the late 1980s. The intention of this campaign was a calculated extermination of the Kurdish people by the Ba’athist regime under Saddam Hussein. The regime destroyed over 4000 Kurdish villages and killed an estimated 182,000 Kurds.

In the book, Iraq’s Crime of Genocide: The Anfal campaign against the Kurds, Human Rights Watch documents, “Although women and children vanished in certain clearly defined areas, adult males who were captured disappeared in masses. It is apparent that a principal purpose of Anfal was to exterminate all adult males of military service age captured.” (Human Rights Watch: 1195, 96).

Yet again, tens of thousands of Kurdish civilians crossed the borders to the neighboring countries to seek protection and shelter in refugee camps. At the same time, thousands of Kurdish people were relocated to the U.S.

The last major wave to Nashville was in the period between 1996 and 1997. A terrible civil war raged between Iraqi Kurdistan's two major political parties, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), in which the former invited Saddam’s forces into the region to counter the latter’s support from Iran. After arriving in the region, Iraqi forces began targeting hundreds of individuals accused of working against Saddam's regime. Many members of US agencies withdrew from the region, and every person with a history of assisting the Americans in the region was instantly in grave danger. At a request by the U.S. government, the International Organization for Migration carried out an evacuation, which Seattle Times writer, Eric Talmadge, designated as one of the biggest evacuations of threatened U.S. allies in recent times. Because these Kurds had been working for Western humanitarian organizations, Hussein saw them as a threat. Kurdish refugees crossed the Turkish border where they were evacuated to Guam – a military outpost in the Western Pacific – and later resettled in the U.S.

Although the four waves have had certain similarities, there have been essential diversities as they have each come from different geographical areas and living circumstances. Will Pedigo asserts that being from different regions within Kurdistan has resulted in miscellaneous social backgrounds, tribal connections and also religious beliefs. In Nashville, each wave fled very distinct situations and has therefore had different perceptions in how they have experienced their journey there. Furthermore, even though most Kurdish people follow Sunni Islam, there are also minorities of Shi’a Muslims, Jews, Christians, Alevis, Yezidis, Yarsans, Zoroastrians, Babis and followers of different Sufi and Mystic orders, some of which even have formed their own subcommunities in the U.S.

The path upon arrival has not been an easy one for the Kurdish immigrants, and many refugees struggle to this day with the suffering and traumas they have experienced due to aggressive and hostile governments in their occupied homelands. The main countries in which Kurds live - Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey - are often perceived by Kurds with a sense of enmity. Although these countries have had a long and sometimes bloody history between each other, they have always managed to forge agreements when it comes to their policies regarding the Kurds. One may say that Kurds’ motives to emigrate to the U.S. have been very unlike other minorities that have come to the country. It has rarely been simply an escape from poverty and a search for the American dream. Rather, it has been a desperate attempt to survive in a region of the world where the atrocities inflicted by the states are all too common. In the last 30 years, Kurds have struggled to build a new haven in Nashville, and director of refugee and immigration services at Catholic Charities of Tennessee Holly Johnson says “they have changed Nashville.”

NPT’s portrayal of the Kurdish community has contributed to a growing awareness of Kurdish-Americans in the U.S., especially those who live in Nashville. “Little Kurdistan” represents the close-knit community and culture among the Kurds, a presence that is confirmed by the many Kurdish-owned businesses in Nashville. A large number of Kurds have therefore moved to Nashville from within the U.S. to be with friends and family, or just to be a part of the growing society. This phenomenon is ongoing, and the peace of mind in knowing that there are other Kurds in Nashville is crucial for those Kurds who choose to move there. Nick Aref is one of many Kurds who have moved, in his case from Arizona, to open a business in Nashville. The key reasons that led many Kurds to Nashville in the 1970s were, as Drew Jubera points out, the fact that “Nashville was viewed as a manageable, relatively affordable place to live, full of entry-level jobs for people who didn’t speak much English.”

Though many Kurds used to have professional jobs at home, they have had to adjust to their new situation and start off in low-paid and unwanted jobs, says Jubera. Despite an undesirable career start and other difficulties, most Kurds are often able to overcome these obstacles and establish their own successful businesses. Jubera points out that the Kurds’ in America are one of the immigrant groups that are consequently known for a successful integration and contribution to the American society.

Although most of the estimated 40,000 Kurds who now live in the U.S. have managed very well, it does not mean that they have not had their share of difficulties to overcome. As it is evident in “Next Door Neighbors,” the escape to the West has been driven by tragedies and immense losses. Many survivors from the Iraqi campaigns, especially the genocidal Anfal campaign, to this day struggle with major health problems, traumas and other psychological problems. Unfortunately for many, the emotional and psychosomatic scars from earlier abuse remain secluded and therefore untreated. These conditions are hard to break free of and affect many of the Kurdish immigrants, as they struggle to adapt to American society.

Another unfortunate event for Nashville’s Kurds is the breakthrough of the Kurdish Pride Gang in the recent years. KPG is thought to be America’s only Kurdish street gang, and has been linked to a series of high-profile crimes. The number of members is not accurately estimated, but they are believed to be made up of 20 to 30 teens and young adults (Emery:2007). The Metropolitan Nashville Police Department are uncertain of the gang’s foundation, but believes the gang is supposed to function as a Kurdish show-off to other ethnic gangs such as the Hispanic gangs Sureños 13 (Sur-13) and Mara Salvatrucha 13. The Metropolitan also point out that the KPG members’ backgrounds are surprising to everyone, because “they come from two-parent homes, […] from middle-class families with a strong work ethic, where education is important” (Emery:2007). Members of the Kurdish community have expressed concern and some have said that they are ashamed of the reputation these few associates have given the rest of the thousands of Kurds in the country.

Despite the social problems facing Kurds like other immigrant communities, there are still many who are keen on building a positive and cohesive Kurdish community in the U.S. The president of the Nashville Kurdish Forum, Tahir Hussain, believes that this may be easier to do for his community because of Nashville’s general culture as “the buckle” of the Bible Belt and its appeal to religious Kurds. The Christian congregations’ traditional family values and lifestyle are very compatible with the Kurds’ own conservative and family-oriented way of life. This has certainly helped to sustain the Kurdish culture among the many other difficulties they have had. Hussain explains that the shared values contribute to a sense of security, and though Kurds are members of different religions, they share the culture of family values (Jubera:2005).

NPT’s portrayal of the Kurdish community has contributed to a growing awareness of Kurdish-Americans in the U.S., especially those who live in Nashville. “Little Kurdistan” represents the close-knit community and culture among the Kurds, a presence that is confirmed by the many Kurdish-owned businesses in Nashville. A large number of Kurds have therefore moved to Nashville from within the U.S. to be with friends and family, or just to be a part of the growing society. This phenomenon is ongoing, and the peace of mind in knowing that there are other Kurds in Nashville is crucial for those Kurds who choose to move there. Nick Aref is one of many Kurds who have moved, in his case from Arizona, to open a business in Nashville. The key reasons that led many Kurds to Nashville in the 1970s were, as Drew Jubera points out, the fact that “Nashville was viewed as a manageable, relatively affordable place to live, full of entry-level jobs for people who didn’t speak much English.

Though many Kurds used to have professional jobs at home, they have had to adjust to their new situation and start off in low-paid and unwanted jobs, says Jubera. Despite an undesirable career start and other difficulties, most Kurds are often able to overcome these obstacles and establish their own successful businesses. Jubera points out that the Kurds’ in America are one of the immigrant groups that are consequently known for a successful integration and contribution to the American society.

The president of the Nashville Kurdish Forum, Tahir Hussain, believes that this may be easier to do for his community because of Nashville’s general culture as “the buckle” of the Bible Belt and its appeal to religious Kurds. The Christian congregations’ traditional family values and lifestyle are very compatible with the Kurds’ own conservative and family-oriented way of life. This has certainly helped to sustain the Kurdish culture among the many other difficulties they have had. Hussain explains that the shared values contribute to a sense of security, and though Kurds are members of different religions, they share the culture of family values (Jubera:2005). In 1998, Muslim Kurds established the Salahadeen Center of Nashville to promote religious studies and education. The center has often served as a meeting ground for the Muslim community.

In recent years, various Kurdish organizations have propped up in and outside of Nashville and have regularly organized events that have been aimed to bring the Kurdish-American community together. A primary goal of these organizations has been to promote the interests of Kurdish-Americans and cultivate support among both Kurdish and non-Kurdish-Americans. “Next Door Neighbors” also illustrates how Kurdish-Americans have opted to take part in the American democratic process. Kurdish organizations have played a role in introducing the democratic process to newly naturalized Kurdish-Americans by initiating programs that are aimed at stimulating their involvement. The Nashville chapter of Kurdish American Youth Organization (KAYO) was awarded by the Tennessee Immigrant & Refugee Rights Coalition for promoting civic engagement in 2008. Furthermore, Kurds in Nashville took part in organizing a movement entitled “Kurds for Obama”, which was aimed at gathering support for then-candidates Barack Obama and Joe Biden. As refugees of former dictator-controlled states where they had no permission to partake in anything, Kurds have displayed a desire to participate in the growth of their new country.

By request from the Catholic Charities in Tennessee, the responsibility to ensure that the newly arrived Kurdish refugees would integrate in the new country was given to William Sinclair, the current Executive Director of Catholic Charities. This was the official beginning of Nashville's status as one of the largest refugee objectives in the southeast. NPT’s awareness and attention to the Kurdish community in Nashville have contributed to enlighten the Kurdish presence in Nashville, and the positive influence Kurdish-Americans have had throughout the many decades they have lived in the U.S.

“Next Door Neighbors” shows how Kurdish-Americans have always worked to preserve their culture and their customs, even when they live in a new “homeland.” Pedigo explains that it is clear that these Kurds are grateful for the opportunity they have been given for a new and better life. This is why the documentary focuses so much on what many would see as the ultimate Kurdish core values; education, strong family focus, and keeping ethnic identity intact. Most essential to Kurds’ integration in Nashville has been their desire to participate and be a part of their new communities, a characteristic they have brought with them from Kurdistan.

Members of the Kurdish American Youth Organization's Nashville Chapter participate in a program called "Feed the Children" to deliver food, medicine, clothing to children and families who lack them.

Hero Karimi is currently a student in the Masters program in Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology at Leiden University in the Netherlands

Prayer has always been the foundation of every faith in the world. Imagine sitting in a room full of people praying and the feeling that you get is calm, peaceful, reassuring and sometimes, overwhelming. One gets the same feelings when looking at ‘Ritual Imprints’, an exhibition at the Third Line gallery (Dubai), on show till February 25.

White calligraphic marks and yellow accents of concentric circles float down over a black canvas; lyrical lines form a field of blue crescents hovering over atmospheric white; abstractions of Farsi letters cluster in circles and form dark lines which loop across a blonde surface. These are Pouran Jinchi’s paintings.

A contemporary artist born in Mashad, Iran, educated in the United States and residing in New York, Jinchi borrows from her home culture’s traditions of literature and calligraphy, and more broadly from the entire history of painting, to pursue her own aesthetic investigations. Trained as a calligrapher in Mashad, the holiest city in Iran, which is home to the shrine of the 8th Imam Ali Raza, Jinchi’s work incorporates traditional aspects of her culture and the beauty of calligraphy.

Her paintings are divided into four series aptly called Dawn, Morning, Noon and Night, signifying the time of prayer. The paintings progress from misty and chalky white in the Dawn collection to deep black and silver hues in the final collection.

The delicately crafted drawings of patterned textures and traditional calligraphy with Islamic geometric design detail the implications of prayer and ritual. The circles and rectangles are decorated with the word ‘Allah’ and inscribed as well as prayers for peace directed to Ali ibne Musa Raza, the eighth apostle in the Shia line of spiritual succession.

“What would you do if you were asked to draw or paint prayer?” she asks. “All I know is that in the past decade, money and consumerism have overshadowed everything else and have become rituals in our lives. Now, with world economies melting, people have started wondering how to get their lives back on track in these difficult moments. That’s when people resort to their faith and begin praying. It is faith and religion that helps fill that void in you. That’s how powerful religion can be and my drawings depict the role of religion in a secular age,” she says.

The drawings are, in fact, rubbings, made by scratching charcoal on thin paper over prayer stones called mohrs — it’s made of special clay brought in from Karbala in Iraq where the Prophet’s grandson Imam Hussain was martyred and the belief says that it has healing powers. She has a display of coloured mohrs on the table. “These prayer stones are placed on prayer rugs. It’s a part of the ritual of prayer as the person places his/her head onto the prayer stone as he or she bends down to pray. Mostly, Shias use the prayer stone. The objects that we use to practice rituals have always fascinated me so I’ve used it to create my form of art,” she adds.

It takes about two months to do a large canvas. “Art is like my child. I try to better it and bring in new details daily. If I make a mistake, I let it go, because that adds to the beauty of the creation as the error remains. It’s imperfectly perfect,” she smiles.

She employs an unusual matrix while retaining the tradition of Persian calligraphy of writing repeated letters to produce abstract compositions. The practice was especially strong in Qajar Iran, a time when calligraphers writing in the Shikasteh script would fill entire pages with repetitions of certain letters without literal meaning.

There’s an element of Sufism also in her works. “That’s true as circles are a representation of life, the day-to-day rituals that give structure to life. The connection here is that Sufi mystics encompass a circular sense of logic and even their trance-like ritual is going round in circles,” she reveals.

She knows the exact purpose of her creations. “I’m not propagating anything here, in the sense that one should become more religious. I’m just drawing attention to what’s already happening in society and to the ritual of prayer,” she says.

The artist has her work displayed at the FBI headquarters in New York. “It’s very interesting how it got there,” she says, adding, “Once a month, the employees are asked to select any art piece that they love and the FBI buys it for them. My painting got a high number of votes and so, I’m up there on that wall,” she says, happily.

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

"Messenger of peace" by Shailaja Tripathi in The Hindu, February 18, 2010

A rising star in Pakistan, Sanam Marvi makes her debut on Indian soil with a solo performance at this year's Jahan-e-Khusrau festival.

Listening to Sufi songs against the backdrop of Humayun's tomb sitting beneath a star studded sky is a surreal experience, and many of us have been part of it at Muzaffar Ali's Jahan-e-Khusrau festival, which is back at its original venue after a gap of three years, during which it had shifted to Jamali Kamali in Mehrauli.

Sanam Marvi, a young emerging artiste on the Pakistani horizon, promises to add to the experience with her rendition of the Sufi qalams of both the known and not-so-known Sufi poets. Making her debut on Indian soil, Sanam, trained under Ustad Fateh Ali Khan of the Gwalior gharana, emphatically states that her aim is to introduce, popularise and publicise the rich Sufi heritage amongst the Indian and Pakistani youth. Excerpts from an interview.

On her first ever performance in India

I have heard a lot about the love and respect Pakistani artistes get in India and this is my chance to experience it. I feel here our talent is appreciated more than it is in Pakistan, and may be that's why Pakistani singers are faring so well in India. Rahat Bhai (Rahat Fateh Ali Khan) has often told me that he never feels as if he is performing in a different country.

Also, since Indian audience respond very well to Allama Iqbal's poetry, they will get to hear “Gesu-e-tabdaar ko aur bhi tabdaar kar”. A lot of people sing these songs, but I will try and present in a way that no one attempted before. I am also bringing a collection of Sindhi songs which have not been sung and heard. In Sindh, for every occasion, there is a specific song sung by the womenfolk to the beats of a dhol.

On her training and Sufi music

I have been learning classical music since the age of seven. My baba, Fakir Ghulam Rasool is a singer, so it was natural for me to take up singing. Apart from Ustad Fateh Ali Khan, I have learnt from Abida Parveen also. Having studied Sufi poetry extensively, I am heavily influenced by this genre for it talks about love and peace. I have never performed any pop song in my life. My objective is to perform in every Sufi festival across the world, so that people of my generation and many more to come are familiarised with this vast culture. I am only 24, and if I can get fascinated by it, so can others.

Monday, February 22, 2010

Salman Ahmad, the legendary “King of Pakistani Rock” and founder of the popular band, Junoon, rocked the sold-out standing room only crowd at the posh Aicon Gallery in New York City on February 3rd. Salman was promoting his new book “Rock & Roll Jihad: A Muslim Rock Star’s Revolution,” a journey of how Ahmad uses his junoon (passion) for music to strive and struggle (jihad) to bring about unity between the U.S. and the Muslim world, raise humanitarian awareness, and bring about positive social change in Pakistan.

Junoon is one of the most popular bands from South Asia, with over 30 million records sold. Salman entered the stage area with his guitar in hand to a roaring applause at the packed house. The audience was captivated as the night progressed, with Salman walking the audience through his journey in writing his autobiography, while entrancing the crowd with his Sufi Rock. He performed hits such as “Sayonee”, “Al Vida”, “Saeen”, “Khudi”, and “Jazaba Junoon”.

One of the many interesting questions asked in the Q&A segment was why did he use the word “Jihad” in the title of the book, Salman answered by saying, “Terrorists have stolen the word ‘Jihad’ from Islam. The word ‘Jihad’ was hijacked on 9/11 and it was a sinister case of identity theft.” He is now stealing that word back from them and getting its positive connotation back - the strive and struggle for self improvement. Salman also elaborated on his role as a UN Goodwill Ambassador for HIV/AIDS. He segued into a song called “Al Vida”, which appears on his 2006 solo album Infiniti, which is about a woman named Shukriya Gul, whose story inspired him.

The night, hosted by the Organization of Pakistani Entrepreneurs (OPEN) in New York, closed with a book signing, where guest lined up to buy and get their copies of “Rock & Roll Jihad” signed by Salman.

"President to inaugurate moot on ‘Sufism & Peace’ "Thursday, February 18, 2010, The International News

Islamabad

The International Writers Conference on ‘Sufism & Peace’ will be inaugurated by President Asif Ali Zardari; and Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani is expected to chair its concluding session.

Chairman Pakistan Academy of Letters (PAL) Fakhar Zaman said this while addressing the meeting of the management committee of the International Writers Conference, held at PAL here Wednesday to finalise the arrangements of the conference to be held in March this year.

Fakhar Zaman said it was Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Shaheed’s desire that PAL should hold the International Writers Conference to highlight Pakistan in the international literary scenario. She expressed that wish on the occasion of her address to the inaugural session of International Writers Conference on ‘Literature, Culture & Democracy’ held in 1995. The upcoming Conference on ‘Sufism & Peace’ is being arranged to realise Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Shaheed’s dream.

In the meeting, the lists of national and international delegates were finalised including the names of scholars, who will present their papers in the conference. The committee also confirmed sub themes of different sessions of the conference and formed a number of sub committees to perform different duties regarding the management of the event.

Fakhar Zaman informed that there are provincial committees, which have presented recommendations for the preparation of lists of delegates from all provinces of the country. The purpose of these committees is to ensure maximum participation of representative writers from all the provinces.

He said the delegates would also be presented PAL publications including books on Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Shaheed, adding that the main objective of the Writers Conference is to highlight Pakistan’s soft image in the world.

Sunday, February 21, 2010

JAKARTA — Guided by a Scottish-born convert to Islam, a group of devout Indonesian Muslims is shunning "worthless" paper money in favour of gold and silver coins for their daily transactions.

The followers of Sheikh Abdalqadir as-Sufi -- born Ian Dallas -- trade goods like food, medicine, clothes and phone cards with gold dinars and silver dirhams in line with a strict interpretation of Islamic law.

Their anti-modern views sit uneasily with the naked capitalism of Indonesia's teeming capital, the financial and political centre of one of the fastest growing economies in the world.

"History has proven that, since the prophet Mohammed, the value of one gold dinar for thousands of years has always been equal to the value of one goat," said 33-year-old Kurniawati, who runs a shop in southern Jakarta.

Hoping to follow the example of Mohammad and the first generations of Muslims, the sheikh's followers do their shopping with dirhams worth around 30,000 rupiah (3.20 dollars) and dinars worth 1.43 million (153 dollars).

And they want the government -- or preferably a worldwide Islamic caliphate -- to replace paper currencies with the dinar that was used, in the words of the sheikh, "until the incursions of the kafir financiers in the Muslim lands".

Wakala Induk Nusantara (WIN) is the body responsible for regulating the issuance and distribution of the dinar in the world's most populous Muslim-majority country.

Coins minted in Indonesia are also in circulation in Australia, Malaysia and Singapore, WIN official Riki Rokhman Azis said.

The number of dinars on the local market more than doubled in 2009 to 25,000 pieces, reflecting the movement's growing popularity, he said.

"We decided to mint silver and gold coins in Indonesia following a fatwa issued by Sheikh Abdalqadir as-Sufi in Cape Town of South Africa, banning Muslims from using paper money," Azis told AFP.

Abdalqadir, a former playwright and actor who converted to Islam in the late 1960s, bitterly opposes modern capitalism and advocates a return to forms of Islamic law practised by the first generations after Mohammed.

These include seventh-century systems of trade and, in particular, the requirement of "zakat", or obligatory sharing of wealth, which he says must be done with gold or silver if it is paid in money.

Recent global economic upheavals, with their origins in the US mortgage and derivatives markets, have confirmed in the eyes of the sheikh that the final victory of Islamic finance is at hand.

In a blog on his website dated February 7, the sheikh pronounces the "historical, demonstrated end" of capitalism, and claims Western governments are using the threat of terrorism to distract people from this failure.

"It is time for the enslaved billions of our world today to fear no more the exploding shoes and underpants of the idiot agents of capitalism and to learn what Islam really is," he writes.

One of the key elements to being Muslim, he continues, is "following the messenger in all trade and contracts with honour (and) ... with real-value instruments of exchange like gold and silver".

Some Muslims have countered that a world economy based on gold coins would lead to a powerful cartel of gold-producing countries, while others have noted the potential for market chaos if gold replaced the greenback.

But for the sheikh's followers, such issues seem remote compared to the straightforward injunction to obey the Koran and emulate Mohammed.

"At least four people on average shop here every week with dinars, mostly buying things like rice, cooking oil, soap and clothes," said Kurniawati, a mother-of-three who also runs a dinar exchange service.

She became convinced of the wisdom of using dinars after her husband gave her a wedding dowry in gold coins eight years ago.

"A gold coin was worth 400,000 rupiah in 2002 but now it's at 1.45 million," she said proudly.

Several dinar users expressed a belief that gold never lost value, even though the currency has dropped 14 percent over the past year, according to rates tracked on local website Gerai Dinar.

The rupiah, meanwhile, has gained 29.17 percent against the US dollar since February 2009, while inflation last year was a record low of 2.78 percent. Consumer prices rose 11.07 percent in 2008.

Despite its recent gains, dinar users expressed a deep distrust of the rupiah, which tanked during the 1998-1999 Asian economic crisis.

"The value of the dinar and the dirham always goes up because the price of gold never falls," said food vendor Faturrahman.

"The price of food in rupiah, in contrast, is always rising. It gives me a headache as my income is becoming smaller and smaller."

New Delhi: After traversing over 440 km and spreading the message of “peace and pluralism”, a unique cycle rally organised by the Jamia Millia Islamia will end in Delhi Tuesday.

With the vision of “Dilon Ko Jodo”, the rally started from Lord Brahma’s Temple in Pushkar on Feb 6, paying homage at the tombs of Sufi Saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti at Ajmer, via Jaipur, to finally reach Jamia Millia Islami.

“It is a demonstration by students of Jamia of their commitment to national integration, peace and solidarity,” Jamia Vice-Chancellor Najeeb Jung said Monday.

At least 25 boys and girl students of the university drawn from all parts of India spread the University’s ideals of “peace, communal harmony and religious pluralism”.

The varsity said that these young ambassadors will be received by Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal and Minister of Minority Affairs Salman Khurshid.

Jamia is trying hard to shed its impression of a glorified madarssa and establish itself as a central university with global vision. Over 18,000 students students are pursuing education at Jamia currently.

More at : Jamia organises cycle rally for ‘peace and pluralism’ http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/uncategorized/jamia-organises-cycle-rally-for-peace-and-pluralism_100320500.html#ixzz0g3FQHKjO

If one reads Punjabi classical poetry, with no presumption of Sufism, it is just good poetry of a certain period that has withstood the test of time. I do not know anybody who would claim that just reading and singing of this poetry would bring social change

One of our reputable progressive historians asserted in one of his recently published column that chanting Sufi songs cannot change the situation: one needs a modern theory or model to address contemporary problems. I agree with the main assertion but strongly disagree with the intent he has put forth in his argument. His formulation lacks historical perspective of which he is supposed to be an expert.

I do not know who he is referring to when he claims that a change in the contemporary situation cannot be brought about by merely chanting Sufi songs. What is wrong if certain groups study Punjabi or other classical poetry, make musical compositions and sing? Did they make a public bid for revolution that we are requiring of them? Do they come in the way of those who want to bring socio-economic change applying ‘modern’ theories or models? Obviously they do not. However, in the absence of activist groups or individuals, they become the victims of expectations that they never intended to trigger.

Before coming to any any conclusions we must examine the interface of activist groups/parties and what we categorise as, rightly or otherwise, the Sufi doctrine itself. It is not incidental that the majority of left-wing activists in different Pakistani regions have been sympathetic to indigenous literature, which happens to be written by those whom we call Sufis; probably, anyone engaged in the articulation of new ideas was put under that catchall title. From old progressive groups to Mazdoor Kisan Party (MKP) and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), and all others in-between, they have all been admirers of indigenous classical literature. On the contrary, almost all religious formations and conservatives have been either indifferent or opponents of an indigenous intellectual discourse.

Conservative religious schools and many academics have been, mistakenly, categorising Sufis of all kinds with one broad brush. The conservative-minded had their own agenda in doing so, but many enlightened historians or social scientists have not appreciated the dynamic and dialectic of the indigenous intellectual discourse either. The latest such misplaced analysis — taking Sufis as a monolithic group — has been made by the progressive historian I have mentioned above.

The two major pioneering Sufis schools, Chishtia and Surharwardia, have had very different ideologies, with irresolvable mutual contradictions: Chishtias were mostly anti-status quo while Suharwardias were closely linked with the Delhi darbar. Chishtia leaders from Khawaja Moeen-ud-Din Chishti to Nazam-ud-Din Aulia refused to meet with the rulers while Bahauddin Zikria Multani accepted the official tile of Sheikh-ul-Islam. The Chishtias’ disliking for Suharwardias was so intense that once Baba Farid’s grandson Arif Daria Mauj, who was the gaddi-nashin, took a shower after he had to embrace Suharwardia Rukn-e-Alam. The latter had returned from Delhi after meetings with the rulers and was not requested to stay at Pakpattan as he had wished.

The Suharwardia school was formalistic, with its ideology close to Mullah Shahi of that period. They had a strong aversion to indigenous languages, cultures, and followers of other religions. The Chishtias were open to all people and it is not a coincidence that they, from Baba Farid onward, pioneered writings in indigenous languages. They promoted indigenous music and other forms of arts as well. It is also not a coincidence that almost the entire Punjabi classical literature was created by the leaders and the followers of the Chishtia and Qadaria schools. Therefore, there is no doubt that they inspired humanism and sometimes revolts by the oppressed classes.

The Chishtia also inspired reformist and nationalist movements like the one led by Guru Nanak and other Sikh Gurus. This is the main reason that Baba Farid’s poetry is included in Guru Granth Sahib. Of course the Chishtia had no well-formulated theory of revolution in the modern sense of the word or overtly preached the overthrow of oppressors. But they were not fronts for the rulers as claimed by our honourable historian: most rulers, being conservative Sunnis, used Mullah Shahi for ideological purposes. It is a historical fact that Baba Farid’s life was made miserable by a joint front of Qazi, Mullahs and the ruler of the city of Ajodhan (Pakpattan).

Now let us describe the writings referred to as Sufi chants. Baba Farid’s poetry is humanistic with, of course, religious undertones. Guru Nanak’s writings are diverse, encompassing philosophy, historical commentaries and everything else in-between. Shah Hussain’s kafis comprise the best kind of poetry, which is sung quite often. Waris Shah’s epic Heer and Bulleh Shah’s kafis are staunchly anti-establishment and anti-Mullah Shahi. Mian Muhammad Bakhsh and Maulvi Ghulam Rasool wrote in the form of masnavi or epic stories. Khawaja Farid’s kafis are lyrical with a unique description of the natural landscape of the desert.

Some of these poets were not even traditional pirs and were just following their intellectual pursuits. As a matter of fact, if one reads Punjabi classical poetry, with no presumption of Sufism, it is just good poetry of a certain period that has withstood the test of time. I do not know anybody who would claim that just reading and singing of this poetry would bring social change. However, the question is: can we bring change without mental enrichment by the indigenous literature and culture?

If human beings are not programmable robots, then what goes into the matrix of learning that produces individuals who can bring modernistic change? Coming from a generation of progressives who really struggled to change the socio-economic order through organisational work (not mere Sufi chants!), without much grounding in indigenous sources of learning, we have learnt that much more goes into the make up of a revolution than mere good hearts and theories developed somewhere else.

"Peace Caravan receives warm welcome at Peshawar"Tuesday, February 16, 2010 in The International News

Karachi

After a 36-hour long journey, the “Peace Caravan” reached the Peshawar railway station on Monday morning, where political workers, trade unionists and peace activists of the Pukhtunkhwa province welcomed the participants.

The Peace Caravan of civil society organisations, organised by the Pakistan Peace Coalition, started it’s journey from Karachi on Saturday evening and was joined on its way by workers, trade union leaders, members of different civil society organisations, journalists, intellectuals, writers and poets.

At the Peshawar railway station, about 100 participants of the Caravan were received by their local friends with slogans for peace. Leaders of various civil society organisations like Aman Tahrik, Sungi Development Foundation, Omar Asghar Khan Foundation, South Asia Partnership Pakistan (SAP-Pk), Muttahida Labour Federation and other local CSOs, welcomed the Caravan participants in Peshawar and said their presence has provided an emotional support to the people of the Pukhtunkhwa province.

Trade union leaders Farid Awan and Shakeel Asghar, speaking on behalf of the Peace Caravan participants, said that the people of the entire country were united against terrorism and the Peace Caravan was a proof that the people of the Pukhtunkhwa province were not alone in their difficult time.

On Monday the participants visited Mazar of Sufi saint and poet Rahman Baba. People present on the occasion welcomed them and exchanged their views about terrorism. They said despite the fact the terrorists had destroyed the shrine, a large number of people still visit it to pay homage to the spiritual leader.

Niyaz, which also features multi-instrumentalist Loga Ramin Torkian and producer and synthesizer programmer Carmen Rizzo, blends modern electronica with 300-year-old Persian folk songs to create unique “world music for the 21st century.”

The band’s 2005 self-titled debut featured its signature blend of Sufi mysticism and trance electronica, and quickly established Niyaz as a standout ensemble in a very crowded world-music field. Its latest album, Nine Heavens, cements the “Niyaz vibe, a mesmerizing fusion of Urdu and Persian mystical poetry and remarkably consonant electronica in support of Ali’s beguiling vocals,” wrote Billboard’s Phillip Van Vleck.

Ali was born in Iran and raised in India, and the music of Niyaz—which means “yearning” in both Farsi, the language of Iran, and Urdu, a major language of northern India and Pakistan—reflects both cultural traditions. Working against negative stereotypes has become part of the band’s mission. “In many ways, my life’s work has become about this,” Ali said.”You know, create something that transcends religion and culture and show people that at the core we are all the same.”

Currently based in Los Angeles, Niyaz just completed a tour of Europe and Turkey. Their Bryn Mawr appearance will be the only one in the Philadelphia area.

Visit the Niyaz Web site at www.niyazmusic.com. Hear two nationally broadcast NPR interviews with Niyaz at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=95607779 and http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4623214&ps=rs

Niyaz is appearing in the area at the same time that the Free Library of Philadelphia has chosen Persepolis, a memoir by Marjane Satrapi about growing up in Iran during a time of political revolution and repression, for the One Book, One Philadelphia program. Material about One Book, One Philadelphia will be available at the performance.

Tickets to individual events in the Performing Arts Series are $18 for the general public, $15 for seniors and Dance Pass holders, $10 for students, $5 for children 12 and under, and free for Bryn Mawr, Haverford, and Swarthmore College students, faculty, and staff. Online ticketing through www.brownpapertickets.com For phone orders and information, call the Office for the Arts at (610) 526-5210 or visit www.brynmawr.edu/calendar/performing_arts.shtml for full season information.

KHARTOUM — Former Sudanese premier Sadiq al-Mahdi kicked off his presidential campaign Monday with a blistering attack on the ruling National Congress Party, which he accused of devastating the country.

Mahdi, a leading contender against President Omar al-Beshir in April's elections, also accused the NCP of using the "ethnic weapon" in the war-torn Darfur region.

"The catastrophe that afflicted our country began with the takeover by a minority party that imposed an Arabic Islamic identity on a country of diverse religions and cultures, and treating whoever did not agree with it as a renegade to be fought by jihad," Mahdi told a news conference.

Former president Jafar al-Nimeiri's implemented Islamic law, which imposes harsh punishments for such offenses as extra-marital sex, in 1983, and declared Arabic the official language of Sudan.

The Muslim north fought a devastating two-decade war with the mostly Christian south that ended in 2005, and which the government often portrayed as a holy war.

Beshir deposed Mahdi in a military coup in 1989 and has relied on Islamist and Arab nationalist rhetoric in Khartoum's conflicts with non-Arab, Muslim tribes in Darfur and with the south.

Mahdi, who is also the spiritual leader of the "Ansar" Sufi brotherhood, said the Islam promoted by the NCP violated the "principles of political Islam, which are dignity, justice and freedom."

"The Islamist mutineers were also careful to attract (some) residents in Darfur with policies that tore apart the political and social fabric... and when an armed resistance movement was launched against these policies, they hastened to use the ethnic weapon," he said.

Beshir is wanted by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes in Darfur, where 300,000 people have died since rebels took up arms against the central government in 2003.

Khartoum favoured Arab tribes in the region and relied on Arab militias known as the Janjaweed in its effort to quell the rebellion.

Voting for the general election, Sudan's first since the 1986 poll that brought Mahdi to power, is set to start on April 11.

TUNISIAONLINENEWS- In order to change the image of Arab-Muslim women as passive recipients of history, Leila Aziz , a young woman from a Tunisian father and a French mother has endeavored by dint of an arduous research carried out in Tunisia and in France to carve out a “manifesto” in tribute of 9 well known Arab-Muslim women, including “Khansa” the famous poet, “Rabiaa al Adawiya”, a Sufi who was able to enter the temple of “Waly” ,the Egyptian “Nefissa” and the Tunisian “Mannoubiya” one of the few women to be found in the Sufi hierarchy.

However, unlike other manifestos this one is presented as a ballet, gathering nine exceptional Arab –Muslim women, reunited through the centuries by the creative craft of the young Tunisian choreographer.

Leila Aziz’s gallery also comprises “Fatima Al Fihria”, a woman from Kairouan known for her wisdom and who built with his sister a Mosque and the “Karawan of Fez” University, as well as the Yemeni “Arwa”, also known as the “Little Queen of Sheba” who ruled Yemen in the 11th century, in addition to the Andalusian “Wallada”.

“Razia Sultana” from Delhi and “Roxelane” from Turkey complete this unique artistic gallery signed by the French choreographer Magalie Lesueur.The ballet was selected at the “Montreal Arab World Festival” which is due to be held from October 30 to November 15, 2010. The festival is the only event of its kind in North America, dedicated to Arabic culture. With its three components, Arts de la scène (stage art), Salon de la culture (Cultural meeting place) and Cinéma, the festival aims at throwing bridges between the arts in Québec (Canada) and the Arab world through various forms of artistic expression.

"Return of Khusrau" (original title) published in IndianExpress.comFeb 16, 2010

How about soaking in some qawwali, as Humayun’s tomb shines breathtakingly in the backdrop? Delhi’s Sufi festival Jahan-e-Khusrau is back after a gap of three years and at its original venue. The Humayun’s Tomb was the venue from 2000 through 2006. “Then in 2007, we were asked to shift to Quli Khan’s Tomb at the Mehrauli Archaeological Park,” says Muzaffar Ali, who has conceptualised the festival, “but the place didn’t have the right atmosphere and we weren’t inspired enough to carry on the festival there.” This year, the feisty Pakistani Sufi singer Abida Parveen will regale the audience with the throaty rendition of Dum mast Qalandar. Also look out for Japanese Odissi exponent Masako Ono who will be performing on the opening day. The four-day extravaganza also includes a ballet on Bulleh Shah choreographed by Astad Deboo and accompanied by vocalist Malini Awasthi and drummers from Manipur. The festival is on from February 25 to 28. Contact 96504 44444.

Friday, February 19, 2010

Written by David J. Rusin, published in Right Side News. Sunday, 14 February 2010 18:59(photo of Shaykh-ul-Islam Dr Muhammad Tahir ul Qadri, leader of the Sufi organization, Minhaj-ul-Quran)

French imam Hassen Chalghoumi recently learned firsthand that Islamists despise non-Islamist Muslims as much as they do anyone else. Chalghoumi attracted their ire by coming out strongly in favor of a ban on face-covering veils, a prohibition that is moving closer to reality. Echoing President Nicolas Sarkozy, he described the niqab as a "prison for women, a tool of sexist domination and Islamist indoctrination" that "has no place in France." Moreover, he explained:

Having French nationality means wanting to take part in society, at school, at work. But with a bit of cloth over their faces, what can these women share with us? If they want to wear the veil, they can go to a country where it's the tradition, like Saudi Arabia.

Islamist reaction to his comments was swift and fierce, with a gang of nearly a hundred men storming his Paris mosque during a meeting of an organization focused on interfaith relations:

"They started to cry 'Allah akbar' and 'God is great,'" recounted Chalghoumi. "Then they insulted me, my mosque, the Jewish community, and the [French] republic. They left after an hour and a half."

According to a member of the Conference of Imams, the mob condemned Chalghoumi as an apostate and threatened him with "liquidation, this imam of the Jews."

Chalghoumi is not the only moderate risking "liquidation." Abadirh Abdi Hussein, a Muslim rapper in Sweden, had his head slashed by attackers displeased with his outspoken opposition to al-Shabaab, which has been recruiting young men to join the jihad in Somalia. And, as IW noted in January, Majed Moughni received a death threat after organizing a demonstration by Detroit-area Muslims to denounce the attempted Christmas Day airplane bombing.

Undeterred by this atmosphere of intimidation, many other Muslims have gone on offense against radicalism in recent months. Among them:

*The Muslim Canadian Congress called on lawmakers to ban the niqab, declaring it a "political issue promoted by extremists" that "has absolutely no place in Canada."

*A plan, now canceled, by the radical group Islam4UK to march through an English town known for honoring fallen soldiers earned the very public wrath of numerous Muslims.

*Minhaj-ul-Quran, a Sufi Muslim organization operating in the UK, issued a fatwa against suicide bombings, labeling them "totally un-Islamic" and "violations of human rights."

As the above examples suggest, at the core of the resurgent jihad is a conflict between an authoritarian interpretation of Islam and a more spiritual, secular interpretation. The fate of two worlds - the Western and the Islamic - will be shaped profoundly by the outcome.

Published originally in Meri News, February 14, 2010. The fifth "All India Sufi and Mystic Music Festival, Ruhaniyat," ended on Saturday (February 13). After travelling to cities like Mumbai, Bangalore, Delhi, Kolkata, Hyderabad the event had its grand finale in Pune. Renowned artists from India and oversees participated in the festival.

The finale started with the performance of ‘Baithi Dhamaal, the Sidi-Goma group of Africa. The Kachra khan, Gullu Khan group of Rajasthan presented sufi kalam, the Baran music ensemble, from Iran presented Sufi songs, the well known Parvathy Baul captured the audience’s attention single handedly with her baul songs, the Nizami brothers of Delhi, ended the grand finale with their Sufi qawwalis.

Ruhaniyat, the festival conceived by Mahesh Babu, director, Banyan Tree Events, has evolved into one of the most prestigious, biggest and much-awaited festival for the connoisseurs across India. Completing its fifth consecutive year, Ruhaniyat is a great platform for national and international participants.

Bombs rained on Bosnia and floods swept across Mozambique. A volcano erupted in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a tsunami hit Sri Lanka, wars made their way across Rwanda, Chechnya, Iraq and Kosovo. A month ago, Haiti was levelled. These are some of the places Imtiaz Sooliman's Gift of the Givers foundation (Africa's largest NGO, having granted roughly $27 million US to 22 countries over 13 years) has responded to.

Sooliman, commended for his work by President Jacob Zuma in his state of the nation speech last week, formed the foundation following a mystical directive by a Sufi to help those in need.

The work the foundation does is ubuntu in its purest form. When xenophobic attacks swept across the country in May 2008 in a haze of fire and murderous intent, the foundation was first to offer a helping hand.

It has only one priority: to help those in need, something that was demonstrated by its quick response to the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince after the earthquake struck. A group of South African medics, engineers, doctors and search-and-rescue specialists left their friends, family and home comforts to offer help.

Born in Potchefstroom, Imtiaz Sooliman qualified as a doctor in 1984. A trip to Turkey in 1992 changed his life.

"A Sufi instructed me to form the organisation to serve humanity unconditionally. He said he could see in my soul that I loved serving people and his instruction would be to serve humanity unconditionally for the rest of my life," said Sooliman.

A tall order, but one he is meeting so far.

"At that point, war was raging in Bosnia. The foundation began as a disaster-response organisation, sending 620 tons of food to the country. Soon after that, we developed and deployed a unique containerised, fully operational hospital, a feat of South African engineering."

Humanitarian work is like dodging bullets, some metaphorical, some political, some literal. That summed up the situation in Bosnia, said Sooliman.

"It was a war zone with too many warring factions, no respect for international law and pure ruthlessness among the warring parties."

The "soldiers" in Sooliman's humanitarian corps are ordinary South Africans, compelled to offer their services in every way they can - counsellors, doctors, paramedics, search-and-rescue personnel - the list of volunteers can run into several hundreds.

According to Sooliman there are three criteria for choosing when and where to get involved.

"First, it depends on how massive the destruction is; second, whether there is a call for international aid; third, whether the assistance from nearby countries will suffice. If not, it's time to get involved."

The latest endeavour, in which several teams hauled themselves to Haiti, came at a price. It was the first time an expedition had a marked effect on team personnel.

"The destruction, the loss of life, the hardship, the men, women and children, the suffering has left an indelible mark on the members of our team, who now require trauma counselling."

They brought home with them harrowed memories of mass graves spread with lime, filled with countless, nameless dead. Twenty-nine-year-old Andre Keyser, a paramedic for Gauteng's Emergency Services, recalls this about the mercy mission: "All those kids, I don't think anybody will ever know how many died there. People are just throwing their children away."

According to Prakash Bare, the producer and lead actor, “The film as well the novel (published 15 years back and now sold in 8 languages) on which it is based is all about our glorious past and our land's culture of communal harmony. It actually explores the shared space we had among Hindu and Muslim religions. The censor board had commended our matured approach towards the subject and has cleared the film with U/A certificate.”

The story in the film unfolds, as being narrated by a Sufi (a Muslim mystic). It's about Karthi, who belongs to a prestigious Hindu tharavadu called Meleppullara. The patriarch Sanku Menon had seen some dangers awaiting the family in the future, during the time of her birth itself. But he never told anyone about his anxieties. Karthi grew up to become a beautiful girl.

She falls in love with a Muslim trader Maamootty who comes for trade there. She elopes with Mamootty and the two starts living in a Muslim household. Karthi becomes a Muslim but she could never give up her original beliefs and faith in her traditions. This creates tensions in her life and between communities as well.

Bollywood actor Sharbani Mukerji plays Karthi, while Thampi Antony is Sanku Mama and Prakash Bare is doing the role of Mamootty. Jagathy Sreekumar, Babu Antony and Samvritha Sunil also include the cast. Rafeek Ahmad's lines have been composed by Mohan Sithara. K G Jayan is the cinematographer.

Produced by Silicon Media and distributed by Central Pictures, Sufi Paranja Kadha [meaning "What the Sufi Said" in Malayalam, a major language of India, spoken in South India and the official language of Kerala (ed.)], was part of the competition section in the prestigious International Film Festival of Kerala at Thiruvananthapuram in Dec 2009.

Everybody seems to be an expert on the Islamic Republic of Pakistan these days. You can't turn left without running into some pundit or pontificating layperson moaning heartily about Pakistan's future, lording it with their imaginary Pakistan PhDs over all and sundry. Baron- esses, David Miliband, the fellow who reads the news - they're all Pakistan wonks now.

It used to be that, upon telling someone you hailed from Pakistan, you'd get a benign smile: "Oh, yes, next to India." Yes, next to India, and Iran and China and Afghanistan. Now, the mere mention of Pakistan elicits a knowing wink. "Where's Osama hiding, then? Ha ha ha." We don't know, he doesn't send out a monthly newsletter. Detroit, I would venture.

But just as no one knows anything certain about Islam in today's "I'm an authority because I saw a documentary once" age, there is no country with more mythology surrounding it than my Pakistan. Here are my three favourites:

1. Pakistan was created so fundamentalist Muslims - and no one else - would have a country of their own to call home.In his address to the constituent assembly of Pakistan on 11 August 1947, three days before the country's independence was to be celebra­ted, Muhammad Ali Jinnah called for liberty in the new nation. "You are free. You are free to go to your temples, you are free to go to your mosques or to any other place of worship in this state of Pakistan. You may belong to any religion or caste or creed - that has nothing to do with the business of the state."

Moral of the story? Religious extremists are made, not born. You can thank General Zia ul-Haq, our pro-Islamist president from 1977-88, and his financial backers Mrs Thatcher and Mr Reagan for that. What you have today is not how it's always been. It is said that the indigenous inhabitants of Sindh, one of the four provinces of Pakistan, were the Dravidians. Then came the Aryans. Then the Arabs. And it was with them - pardon the rush through thousands of years of history - that Islam, and Sufi Islam, came to our lands.

Today, the struggle for the soul of Pakistani Islam is being fought between the qawwali- singing, tolerant Sufis and the puritanical Wah­habi Muslim sect, which has been supported for years with funding from orthodox Sunni Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states.

Who will win? The Sufis, according to Ayeda Naqvi, who teaches Islamic mysticism. "It was Sufis who came and spread the religious message of love and harmony and beauty. There were no swords . . . And you can't separate it from our culture - it's in our music, it's in our folklore, it's in our architecture. We are a Sufi country." And it is worth noting that religious, or Islamist, parties have never prospered on a national level in Pakistan. They peaked in 2002, winning 17 per cent of the seats in the National Assembly after the US invasion of Afghanistan, but dropped back to 1 per cent in 2008.

2. Sufis? No, no, no. Pakistan is a nation of madrasa-educated, bearded Taliban enthusiasts.In fact, it's not Islamic schools but rampant corruption that's brought the Taliban and their ilk to the forefront. As Jinnah presciently noted in that same early speech, corruption and bribery are a threat that Pakistan must put down with "an iron hand". He called corruption (and nepotism, in case you were wondering) our "great evils". But no one listened. Puppet parliaments, military dictatorships - every single one of them supported by western powers - and corrupt but pliable civilian rulers all but ensured that our young nation's wealth would be spent on those great evils and little else.

Take the last budget, with its total outlay of 2.5 trillion rupees. Of that, Rs32bn were set aside for education, with another Rs22bn towards higher education. That sounds interesting - not too spectacular, but not too shabby either. Until you read on, that is: Rs166bn were earmarked for the construction of dams; federal ministries walked away with Rs262bn for their own costs; and an income support scheme named after the president's late wife, under which poor people line up to receive charity cash payments (photo with president optional) received Rs70bn. Our politicians prefer these projects to spending on health and education, because it is easier to siphon off funds from them. So, is it any wonder that Islamists who turn up and build madrasas and medical camps end up becoming popular? No. But we owe that to corruption, not to their attractive political philosophies or their ability to grow beards.

3. Pakistan funds religious terrorists such as the Taliban and al-Qaeda.But so does the US, notably Sunni militias in Iraq and once even the Taliban in Afghanistan. Find me a country that doesn't stash its cash in dirty bank accounts and then we'll talk.

Pakistan's problems, like Islam's, are myriad. But CNN doesn't define them for us. They are the problems faced by most people in my country every day - the difficulty of getting access to drinkable water, the rising price of food, the struggle to secure employment when most people are illiterate, the absence of justice and law and order. But no one wants to be a pretend authority on those subjects when there are US drones to drop bombs on villages and a sexy war on terror to talk up. Let's not forget that diarrhoea still kills many more children than the Taliban do in our nuclear-armed state. That's the crux of 21st-century Pakistan's problems.

The life of Abd el Kader (1808-1883), the Algerian emir who heroically resisted French colonization and became a legend, illuminates the problem of terrorism in our time if we let it.

The emir would have found the screeds of Osama bin Laden irreligious and the Taliban unenlightened. He was almost certainly aware of the puritanical teachings of Abd el Wahhab (1703-1792), which underpin the Saudi Arabian state and much of today’s fanaticism, including the Taliban’s, but he looked instead to Sufism, the mysterium within Islam, for daily guidance.

Like all Sufis, he would have deemed legalitarian and canonistic strictures to be obstacles along the spiritual path. And in this he illustrates an inherent tension not only within Islam but also within Christianity and Judaism, the other two great monotheistic religions. Christianity had its Peter the Hermit, preaching jihad, but it also had its Saint Teresa of Avila consorting with angels. Islam had its Ibn al Arabi, the emir’s 11th Century spiritual guide, but also its Hasan ibn al Sabah, lord of the assassins. It had its enlightened Abbasids and Umayyads and its bloody-minded Almoravids. Judaism had the Qaballah but also the Zealots.

Sufis, like Christian mystics, do not insist that others are wrong and they are right. And this inevitably makes them suspect in the eyes of religious zealots who insist there is but one right way, one path to union with divine principle. Sufis, like Christian mystics, are always under suspicion in authoritarian states. In the best of times in such states they are tolerated subversives. But under enlightened rule, such as Umayyad Spain and Elizabethan England, they have thrived and shown astonishing creativity. It is difficult to imagine how impoverished poetry would be worldwide without mystics.

The mystical tradition within Islam is irreconciliably at odds with fanatics like Osama bin Laden, Mullah Omar in Afghanistan, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Iran and most of the Saudi clerics. An enlightened foreign policy emanating from Washington would take this into account, knowing that Sufism is a far greater force in Islam than the current paroxysm of terrorist rage. Terrorism is rooted in fear. Sufism is rooted in love, as is the Christian inner tradition. Unfortunately, American foreign policy seems more comfortable dealing with fear than love.

In the West the mystical path—read Evelyn Underhill’s Mysticism for an overview—diverges from all narrow and fundamentalist views of religion. And no matter how many times doctrinaire or simplistic preachers seem to prevail, mysticism reemerges as if refreshed by oppression. This phenomenon is as familiar to Muslims as it is to Christians. That is why Emir Abd el Kader’s example and leadership is so memorable. It is why he is remembered with reverence while Bin Laden will be remembered through history as a bilious murderer. Abd el Kader believed in equanimity, chivalry, forgiveness, all Sufic traits. Bin Laden believes in slaughter.

Fundamentalism, however, is one thing, Islamophobia and plain looniness quite another. Islamophobes are hard at work trying to make both Israeli and Muslim extremists instruments of the Apocalypse. A narrow view of religion does not necessarily make one an Islamophobe, and Jews would be wise to remember that today’s Islamophobe is tomorrow’s Jew-baiter. I’m thinking of the Crusaders who warmed up for the First Crusade in 1096 by killing thousands of German Jews in Mainz.

Abd el Kader is the leader the Arabs need today. Instead they have venal, corrupt and hypocritical leaders who encourage extremism on the sly while cozying up to the West officially. It would be difficult to cite a single Arab leader today for magnanimity, compassion and scholarship, virtues for which Abd el Kader is celebrated. Certainly not the murderous Al Qaeda jihadists, and certainly not the corrupt leaders with whom we regularly consort.

When Gamal Abdel Nasser was still alive his portrait was ubiquitous in the Muslim world, and today he is still regarded in some quarters as a kind of modern Saladin. But a better role model is Abd el Kader, because Nasser, while savvy and bold, was neither a scholar nor a metaphysician. He had a vision of pan-Arabism but no world view. If the Arabs wanted to test the West’s intentions towards them instead of entertaining the idée fixe that the West is irredeemably exploitative, they would raise up the likes of Abd el Kader among themselves. France failed his test because its intentions were mixed at best and rapacious in practice. What of ours?

The war on terrorism is ill-named for many grave reasons, not least of which is that if we must wage war it should be on zealotry. Then it would logically have to be waged not only on Muslims but also on Christians and Jews. We do not wish to carry the war to the West Bank or to Texas, where it also belongs and where extremists often are the tail wagging the dog, as indeed they do almost everywhere else, and so we fight foolishly at exorbitant cost in Afghanistan and pretend that our generals know best simply because they are trained to win wars.

This is the right moment, the exact moment in American history to step back from a mindlessly accelerating conflict and take in the breadth of the entire picture. For decades Saudi Arabia, acting diplomatically as if it is our best friend in the Middle East, has countenanced and even financed fundamentalist madrasahs that have bred implacable enemies of the West. The British used to warn us about this, but what have we ever chosen to learn from them? Israel, putatively our closest ally in the Middle East, has countenanced Zionist extremists who have no intention of negotiating with the Arabs about anything, especially not land seized in war. And we have winked at banks too big to fail that have fattened on our war debt. The money we have spent in Iraq and Afghanistan would have been much better spent encouraging Muslim moderates through education, medical science and diplomacy. War is a shortcut to nowhere. The Saudis have set the example we ourselves should follow: education. Where they have educated terrorists we should educate moderates. But our own extremists, and Israel’s, go all gaga about war because it is so easy to misdirect patriotism and so difficult to explain that extremism in all its guises and in all nations is the real enemy.

But if the Arabs need the great emir, so does the West. So does Israel. As surely as the United States would have crumbled without Abraham Lincoln, so we will continue to polarize and pull apart if we do not find leaders of his stature who will conserve our human and capital wealth to rebuild our diminished prosperity and close the gap between rich and poor that has been widening since the 1970s.

With the help of a media establishment in the service of an amoral corporate oligarchy, we have fashioned a culture that fears knowledge and prefers received ideas, a culture that spawns fanaticism. The media’s impulse to hype the slightest disagreement and to turn discourse into contest has, with the lucre-vending lobbyists, polarized the population.

It was Ibn al Arabi’s grand idea that we are co-creators of an evolving cosmos, recruited and anointed by a divine principle to co-create the world by our actions and thoughts. This profoundly alchemical idea instructed Abd el Kader in his long conflict with French colonialism and won for him worldwide and lasting admiration. Ibn al Arabi’s enduring and extremely influential ideas do not readily coexist with legalitarian and canonistic interpretations of Islam or any theology. They are essentially theophanic and therefore worrisome to anyone who intends to use religion to inhibit inquiry. Moreover, Sufism, like Christian mysticism, is essentially hermetic, so that it may be said that any regime that deems it necessary to suppress it is by definition regressive.

Abd el Kader waged war wisely and as honorably as it can be waged. He spared prisoners and often returned them if he could not shelter and feed them. He showed mercy and wisdom. He waged no war on the innocent and he despised the cruel as much as he despised the French exploiters whom he fought. In a land with a profound Sufic tradition he never uttered a word that suggested that as a ruler he might oppress hermeticism.

Had not the old enmity between Arab and Berber prevented him from raising the Berber Kabylia region against the French he might well have defeated them. That enmity in itself is a backstory to the larger conflict between tolerance and fanaticism, for it was an army from Kabylia led by fanatics that brought down the famously tolerant caliphate at Cordoba. This same calamity returned to haunt Abd el Kader. And today the Amazigh people, who comprise at least a third of Algeria’s populstion and are called Berbers by others, clamor for the autonomy required to preserve their culture. It is not unlikely Abd el Kader, unlike the present government, would have given it to them. Like Barack Obama, he was a synergistic thinker whose prime impulse was to unify rather than divide. But this impulse was no more in vogue in his day than it is in ours, because it is so much more personally profitable to leaders to divide us than to unite us. Polarizers, extremists, that is, should on the face of things be distrusted, but to civilization’s great misfortune they are often seductive. A unifier like the emir and Abraham Lincoln is exceedingly rare, but extremists are cheaper by the dozen.

His place of honor in the Western mind is admirably defined in Abd el Kader in British and American Literature, published last year by the CELAAN Review at Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, New York. Edited by Rachel Heavner, it is a compendium of letters, poems, songs and press clippings about the emir. The review’s editor, Hedi Abdel Jaouad, is the director of Skidmore’s Center for the Studies of the Literature and Arts of North Africa. He is writing a biography of Abd el Kader.

PESHAWAR: Glowing tributes were paid to great mystic poet, writer and pioneer of modern Pashto ghazal, Amir Hamza Khan Shinwari, at a seminar held here Thursday to commemorate his 16th death anniversary.

Speakers including scholar, poet and short-story writer Syed Tahir Bokhari, director of the Pashto Academy, University of Peshawar, Dr Rajwali Shah Khattak, Dr Afsar Khan and Dr Masood said Hamza Baba had a multi-faceted personality and was legend of the 20th century.

Amir Hamza Shinwari Adabi Society and Tribal Union of Journalists had arranged the anniversary programme divided into a seminar and Pashto ‘mushaira’ where poets recited their Pashto poetry.

In the first session, Tahir Bokhari read out a paper on Hamza Baba, throwing light on his life and achievements. Hamza Shinwari had named Tahir Bokhari of Chota Lahore in Swabi popularly known as Bachajee as successor of his own school of thought in Tassawuf (Chishtia Nizamia Niazia).

Bachajee has to his credit translating seven books of Hamza Shinwari in Urdu including the famous ‘Tazkera-e-Sattaria’. Recalling his association with Hamza Baba, Bokhari said he was a poet, drama and film writer and critic, but also a scholar.

Dr Rajwali Shah said after Khushal Khan Khattak and Rahman Baba, Hamza Baba enjoyed wide popularity and was the legend of the 20th centaury. He was founder of the modern Pashto ghazal and earned the title of Baba-e-Pashto Ghazal. However, he deplored that the Pakhtuns did not recognise his greatness and the status he deserved.

Talking about the style and subject mater of Hamza Baba’s poetry, the speakers said people like him were born in centuries. Born in the border town of Landikotal, Khyber Agency, Hamza Shinwari not only contributed to Pashto literature through poetry, drama and film writing but also wrote in Urdu, especially prose, they added.

The speakers said Hamza’s poetry was a guideline that could bring the society out of chaos, especially in the prevailing situation of violence and uncertainty. He always called for peace, love and respect for humanity, they said, adding that giving some one title of ‘Baba” was not just a word of respect, but itself the title that very few deserved in Pakhtun society.

The literati said more work was needed on Hamza Baba contribution to prose like his more than 400 dramas, novel Naway Chapay and travelogues. Haroon Shinwari, president Hamza Baba Adabi Society, said the society had been arranging Baba’s death anniversary programmes regularly for the last eight years, however, the provincial government should officially observe the day as an acknowledgement of his services to Pashto language and literature. He called for more research to popularise the work of great poet in other societies and languages.

Through resolutions adopted on the occasion it was demanded of the provincial government to expedite work on Hamza Baba Academy, staff be provided to the library at Hamza Baba complex, Jamrud Road be named after great sufi poet and Pashto be introduced compulsory subject till 10th class. Noted writer and columnist, Salim Raz, Prof Abaseen Yousufzai, Dr Masood, Kalim Shinwari, Wali Khan Sarhadi, Wasim Akram Shinwari were among those paying tributes to Hamza Baba.

Friday, February 26, 2010

ADDIS ABABA — Somalia's transitional government and a recently-armed Sufi group will sign an agreement in March to join hands in "fighting extremism", Ethiopia's foreign ministry said on Saturday.

Somalia's Deputy Prime Minister Sherif Hassan Sheik Aden and Ahlu Sunna wal Jamaa's spiritual leader Sheikh Mahamoud Sheikh Ahmed met in Addis Ababa for more than a week to thrash out a deal in response to the rise of the militant Islamic Shebab.

"Both parties have agreed to mobilise Somalis inside and outside the country to fight jointly against the onslaught of extremism, to preserve Somali tradition and custom," the Ethiopian ministry said in a statement.

"Both sides will now take the agreement back to their respective constituencies and carry out extensive discussions. The final agreement will be signed during the first week of March," it added.

Under the agreement, a national panel of ulemas, or Muslim scholars, will be formed to come up with a framework to "protect and preserve the traditional Somali Islamic faith", the statement said.

Sufism emphasises the mystical dimension of Islam and includes practices considered as idolatry by the strict Wahhabi sect followed by the Al-Qaeda-inspired Shebab.

Sufism is still dominant in clannish Somalia, where clan founders were often also Muslim saints, but its leading clerics have voiced concern that hardline Islamist groups such as Shebab were slowly eradicating it.

Ahlu Sunna wal Jamaa ('The Companions of the Prophet') took up arms in 2008 after Shebab started hunting down Sufi faithful and desecrating their holy sites, notably in and around the southern Somali city of Kismayo.

The usually quiet group held its inaugural "war council" in Nairobi in November.

Shebab controls around 80 percent of southern and central Somalia, and since his election a year ago President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed and his administration have been pinned down in a small area of the capital.

The conflict-wracked country's shaky government is planning a nationwide offensive against insurgents, which Shebab says will be met with all-out war. Related article: Sparing civilians key to Somali offensive

Thursday, February 25, 2010

In Ahmedabad,when a child is sick,worried parentsoften carry the infant to a tiny dwelling in a Jain neighbourhood,the humble shrine or gokhlo of Hasti Bibi.An empathetic Muslim woman whose ability to heal through laughter has accorded her saintlike status,Hasti Bibi (the laughing saint) does not stop to check whether the teary eyes are that of a Hindu or Muslim parent.

Tejal Vadke,29,the owner of a jewellery shop opposite the shrine,prays to her every day."During exams,we used to keep our pen at the shrine before we left for the exam centre.Whenever I am faced with any problem,I come to Hasti Bibi for help and she has always made me smile," says Vadke.His father brought young Tejal to the shrine when he was a boy.

The gokhlo is a simple marble cavity with a clay lamp resting on a bed of roses and mogra.Its most endearing feature is that it is built fairly low in order to allow a child to peer inside."Hasti Bibi was a family member of Hazrat Sheikh Bin Abudullah Al Edrus,a sufi saint.She was given a boon by Allah that whoever comes to her doorstep with any worries will go smiling due to her pious nature and devotion," says Mukhtiar Ahmed Arab,caretaker of the shrine.Although this is a communally sensitive area,both Hindus and Muslims worship at the shrine on Thursdays."On Thursdays,people start coming from 6 am and this continues till late in the night," says Arab.

If the child gets well,the parent can light a stick of incense,or,give the laughing saint the one treat she most enjoys,a hot jalebi.

“It’s a source of pride for a lot of Nashvillians, you hear it all the time: ‘We have the largest Kurdish population in the country.’ It’s funny how they recognize that. It’s almost like a sports team,” says Meryl Taylor, manager of the Metro Services Refugee Program (Jubera:2005).

Nashville has always been labeled as the music city, but it now appears that the city has another role. After Nashville Public Television began airing their 2008 documentary program entitled “Next Door Neighbors”, Nashville also became known as “the new destination city,” as it has embraced countless refugees and immigrants, and now represents ethnic groups from all over the world. The Kurdish lifestyle as portrayed through the documentary reveals a hardworking and grateful group of people that proudly show off their successes in American society.

In the spring of last year, The Tennessean emphasized the increasing popularity that the state had as an immigration destination. A reporter at The Tennessean, Chris Echegaray, points out that the state has gained nearly 200,000 foreign-born residents since the beginning of 1990. In particular, Middle Tennessee stands out, where one group has distinguished itself so thoroughly in Nashville that parts of the city are commonly referred to by the name of their homeland. “Little Kurdistan” represents the nation’s largest Kurdish population, and according to the director of Kurdish Achievers, Mwafac Mohammed, the population is estimated to be up to 11,000.

Producer at NPT, Will Pedigo, acknowledges Nashville’s Kurds as a significant part of the Kurdish Diaspora, and adds that the community here represents the Kurdish capital of North America. Most of the Kurdish population in Nashville consists of Kurds from Iraq. In conversations with members of the national Kurdish American Youth Organization, they point out that other states with major Kurdish populations, in addition to Tennessee, are California, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Texas and Virginia.

The history of the growing Kurdish communities in the U.S. goes back to 1976, when the first of four waves of Kurdish refugee resettlements came directly to Nashville. At the time, the Catholic Charities of Tennessee was responsible for the refugee and immigration services and the Diocese of Nashville hired Bill Sinclair as a refugee resettlement caseworker. Drew Jubera points out that it was a “happy accident” that the first wave to arrive in the 1970s happened to come to Nashville. Proximity to the army base, Fort Campbell, where they were received, and a booming economy led them to establish their community in Nashville. These Kurds were fleeing a failed revolution in Iraqi Kurdistan. The revolutionary attempt had begun in 1961, although the Kurdish rebellion – initially supported by the United States and the Iranian regime – began in March 1974. However, when Saddam Hussein entered into an agreement with the Shah of Iran at the expense of the Kurdish rebels, foreign support came to an abrupt end and the Kurdish population was left vulnerable to the vengeance of the Iraqi regime. Consequently, hundreds of thousands of Kurdish people sought exile in neighboring countries, while some were brought to the United States.

A number of Kurds from Iraqi Kurdistan continued to arrive in the year that followed, though the greater part of the second wave that came in 1979 were Kurds from Kurdistan of Iran. These Kurds escaped because of their opposition to the theocratic system that would follow the Iranian revolution that, under the auspice of Ayatollah Khomeini, endeavored to overthrow the Shah and replace his government with an Islamic Republic.

The third wave took place between 1991 and 1992, and is assumed to be the largest of the four waves. This wave included Kurds who desperately fled the genocidal campaign, known as Anfal, imposed by the dictator Saddam Hussein in the late 1980s. The intention of this campaign was a calculated extermination of the Kurdish people by the Ba’athist regime under Saddam Hussein. The regime destroyed over 4000 Kurdish villages and killed an estimated 182,000 Kurds.

In the book, Iraq’s Crime of Genocide: The Anfal campaign against the Kurds, Human Rights Watch documents, “Although women and children vanished in certain clearly defined areas, adult males who were captured disappeared in masses. It is apparent that a principal purpose of Anfal was to exterminate all adult males of military service age captured.” (Human Rights Watch: 1195, 96).

Yet again, tens of thousands of Kurdish civilians crossed the borders to the neighboring countries to seek protection and shelter in refugee camps. At the same time, thousands of Kurdish people were relocated to the U.S.

The last major wave to Nashville was in the period between 1996 and 1997. A terrible civil war raged between Iraqi Kurdistan's two major political parties, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), in which the former invited Saddam’s forces into the region to counter the latter’s support from Iran. After arriving in the region, Iraqi forces began targeting hundreds of individuals accused of working against Saddam's regime. Many members of US agencies withdrew from the region, and every person with a history of assisting the Americans in the region was instantly in grave danger. At a request by the U.S. government, the International Organization for Migration carried out an evacuation, which Seattle Times writer, Eric Talmadge, designated as one of the biggest evacuations of threatened U.S. allies in recent times. Because these Kurds had been working for Western humanitarian organizations, Hussein saw them as a threat. Kurdish refugees crossed the Turkish border where they were evacuated to Guam – a military outpost in the Western Pacific – and later resettled in the U.S.

Although the four waves have had certain similarities, there have been essential diversities as they have each come from different geographical areas and living circumstances. Will Pedigo asserts that being from different regions within Kurdistan has resulted in miscellaneous social backgrounds, tribal connections and also religious beliefs. In Nashville, each wave fled very distinct situations and has therefore had different perceptions in how they have experienced their journey there. Furthermore, even though most Kurdish people follow Sunni Islam, there are also minorities of Shi’a Muslims, Jews, Christians, Alevis, Yezidis, Yarsans, Zoroastrians, Babis and followers of different Sufi and Mystic orders, some of which even have formed their own subcommunities in the U.S.

The path upon arrival has not been an easy one for the Kurdish immigrants, and many refugees struggle to this day with the suffering and traumas they have experienced due to aggressive and hostile governments in their occupied homelands. The main countries in which Kurds live - Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey - are often perceived by Kurds with a sense of enmity. Although these countries have had a long and sometimes bloody history between each other, they have always managed to forge agreements when it comes to their policies regarding the Kurds. One may say that Kurds’ motives to emigrate to the U.S. have been very unlike other minorities that have come to the country. It has rarely been simply an escape from poverty and a search for the American dream. Rather, it has been a desperate attempt to survive in a region of the world where the atrocities inflicted by the states are all too common. In the last 30 years, Kurds have struggled to build a new haven in Nashville, and director of refugee and immigration services at Catholic Charities of Tennessee Holly Johnson says “they have changed Nashville.”

NPT’s portrayal of the Kurdish community has contributed to a growing awareness of Kurdish-Americans in the U.S., especially those who live in Nashville. “Little Kurdistan” represents the close-knit community and culture among the Kurds, a presence that is confirmed by the many Kurdish-owned businesses in Nashville. A large number of Kurds have therefore moved to Nashville from within the U.S. to be with friends and family, or just to be a part of the growing society. This phenomenon is ongoing, and the peace of mind in knowing that there are other Kurds in Nashville is crucial for those Kurds who choose to move there. Nick Aref is one of many Kurds who have moved, in his case from Arizona, to open a business in Nashville. The key reasons that led many Kurds to Nashville in the 1970s were, as Drew Jubera points out, the fact that “Nashville was viewed as a manageable, relatively affordable place to live, full of entry-level jobs for people who didn’t speak much English.”

Though many Kurds used to have professional jobs at home, they have had to adjust to their new situation and start off in low-paid and unwanted jobs, says Jubera. Despite an undesirable career start and other difficulties, most Kurds are often able to overcome these obstacles and establish their own successful businesses. Jubera points out that the Kurds’ in America are one of the immigrant groups that are consequently known for a successful integration and contribution to the American society.

Although most of the estimated 40,000 Kurds who now live in the U.S. have managed very well, it does not mean that they have not had their share of difficulties to overcome. As it is evident in “Next Door Neighbors,” the escape to the West has been driven by tragedies and immense losses. Many survivors from the Iraqi campaigns, especially the genocidal Anfal campaign, to this day struggle with major health problems, traumas and other psychological problems. Unfortunately for many, the emotional and psychosomatic scars from earlier abuse remain secluded and therefore untreated. These conditions are hard to break free of and affect many of the Kurdish immigrants, as they struggle to adapt to American society.

Another unfortunate event for Nashville’s Kurds is the breakthrough of the Kurdish Pride Gang in the recent years. KPG is thought to be America’s only Kurdish street gang, and has been linked to a series of high-profile crimes. The number of members is not accurately estimated, but they are believed to be made up of 20 to 30 teens and young adults (Emery:2007). The Metropolitan Nashville Police Department are uncertain of the gang’s foundation, but believes the gang is supposed to function as a Kurdish show-off to other ethnic gangs such as the Hispanic gangs Sureños 13 (Sur-13) and Mara Salvatrucha 13. The Metropolitan also point out that the KPG members’ backgrounds are surprising to everyone, because “they come from two-parent homes, […] from middle-class families with a strong work ethic, where education is important” (Emery:2007). Members of the Kurdish community have expressed concern and some have said that they are ashamed of the reputation these few associates have given the rest of the thousands of Kurds in the country.

Despite the social problems facing Kurds like other immigrant communities, there are still many who are keen on building a positive and cohesive Kurdish community in the U.S. The president of the Nashville Kurdish Forum, Tahir Hussain, believes that this may be easier to do for his community because of Nashville’s general culture as “the buckle” of the Bible Belt and its appeal to religious Kurds. The Christian congregations’ traditional family values and lifestyle are very compatible with the Kurds’ own conservative and family-oriented way of life. This has certainly helped to sustain the Kurdish culture among the many other difficulties they have had. Hussain explains that the shared values contribute to a sense of security, and though Kurds are members of different religions, they share the culture of family values (Jubera:2005).

NPT’s portrayal of the Kurdish community has contributed to a growing awareness of Kurdish-Americans in the U.S., especially those who live in Nashville. “Little Kurdistan” represents the close-knit community and culture among the Kurds, a presence that is confirmed by the many Kurdish-owned businesses in Nashville. A large number of Kurds have therefore moved to Nashville from within the U.S. to be with friends and family, or just to be a part of the growing society. This phenomenon is ongoing, and the peace of mind in knowing that there are other Kurds in Nashville is crucial for those Kurds who choose to move there. Nick Aref is one of many Kurds who have moved, in his case from Arizona, to open a business in Nashville. The key reasons that led many Kurds to Nashville in the 1970s were, as Drew Jubera points out, the fact that “Nashville was viewed as a manageable, relatively affordable place to live, full of entry-level jobs for people who didn’t speak much English.

Though many Kurds used to have professional jobs at home, they have had to adjust to their new situation and start off in low-paid and unwanted jobs, says Jubera. Despite an undesirable career start and other difficulties, most Kurds are often able to overcome these obstacles and establish their own successful businesses. Jubera points out that the Kurds’ in America are one of the immigrant groups that are consequently known for a successful integration and contribution to the American society.

The president of the Nashville Kurdish Forum, Tahir Hussain, believes that this may be easier to do for his community because of Nashville’s general culture as “the buckle” of the Bible Belt and its appeal to religious Kurds. The Christian congregations’ traditional family values and lifestyle are very compatible with the Kurds’ own conservative and family-oriented way of life. This has certainly helped to sustain the Kurdish culture among the many other difficulties they have had. Hussain explains that the shared values contribute to a sense of security, and though Kurds are members of different religions, they share the culture of family values (Jubera:2005). In 1998, Muslim Kurds established the Salahadeen Center of Nashville to promote religious studies and education. The center has often served as a meeting ground for the Muslim community.

In recent years, various Kurdish organizations have propped up in and outside of Nashville and have regularly organized events that have been aimed to bring the Kurdish-American community together. A primary goal of these organizations has been to promote the interests of Kurdish-Americans and cultivate support among both Kurdish and non-Kurdish-Americans. “Next Door Neighbors” also illustrates how Kurdish-Americans have opted to take part in the American democratic process. Kurdish organizations have played a role in introducing the democratic process to newly naturalized Kurdish-Americans by initiating programs that are aimed at stimulating their involvement. The Nashville chapter of Kurdish American Youth Organization (KAYO) was awarded by the Tennessee Immigrant & Refugee Rights Coalition for promoting civic engagement in 2008. Furthermore, Kurds in Nashville took part in organizing a movement entitled “Kurds for Obama”, which was aimed at gathering support for then-candidates Barack Obama and Joe Biden. As refugees of former dictator-controlled states where they had no permission to partake in anything, Kurds have displayed a desire to participate in the growth of their new country.

By request from the Catholic Charities in Tennessee, the responsibility to ensure that the newly arrived Kurdish refugees would integrate in the new country was given to William Sinclair, the current Executive Director of Catholic Charities. This was the official beginning of Nashville's status as one of the largest refugee objectives in the southeast. NPT’s awareness and attention to the Kurdish community in Nashville have contributed to enlighten the Kurdish presence in Nashville, and the positive influence Kurdish-Americans have had throughout the many decades they have lived in the U.S.

“Next Door Neighbors” shows how Kurdish-Americans have always worked to preserve their culture and their customs, even when they live in a new “homeland.” Pedigo explains that it is clear that these Kurds are grateful for the opportunity they have been given for a new and better life. This is why the documentary focuses so much on what many would see as the ultimate Kurdish core values; education, strong family focus, and keeping ethnic identity intact. Most essential to Kurds’ integration in Nashville has been their desire to participate and be a part of their new communities, a characteristic they have brought with them from Kurdistan.

Members of the Kurdish American Youth Organization's Nashville Chapter participate in a program called "Feed the Children" to deliver food, medicine, clothing to children and families who lack them.

Hero Karimi is currently a student in the Masters program in Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology at Leiden University in the Netherlands

Prayer has always been the foundation of every faith in the world. Imagine sitting in a room full of people praying and the feeling that you get is calm, peaceful, reassuring and sometimes, overwhelming. One gets the same feelings when looking at ‘Ritual Imprints’, an exhibition at the Third Line gallery (Dubai), on show till February 25.

White calligraphic marks and yellow accents of concentric circles float down over a black canvas; lyrical lines form a field of blue crescents hovering over atmospheric white; abstractions of Farsi letters cluster in circles and form dark lines which loop across a blonde surface. These are Pouran Jinchi’s paintings.

A contemporary artist born in Mashad, Iran, educated in the United States and residing in New York, Jinchi borrows from her home culture’s traditions of literature and calligraphy, and more broadly from the entire history of painting, to pursue her own aesthetic investigations. Trained as a calligrapher in Mashad, the holiest city in Iran, which is home to the shrine of the 8th Imam Ali Raza, Jinchi’s work incorporates traditional aspects of her culture and the beauty of calligraphy.

Her paintings are divided into four series aptly called Dawn, Morning, Noon and Night, signifying the time of prayer. The paintings progress from misty and chalky white in the Dawn collection to deep black and silver hues in the final collection.

The delicately crafted drawings of patterned textures and traditional calligraphy with Islamic geometric design detail the implications of prayer and ritual. The circles and rectangles are decorated with the word ‘Allah’ and inscribed as well as prayers for peace directed to Ali ibne Musa Raza, the eighth apostle in the Shia line of spiritual succession.

“What would you do if you were asked to draw or paint prayer?” she asks. “All I know is that in the past decade, money and consumerism have overshadowed everything else and have become rituals in our lives. Now, with world economies melting, people have started wondering how to get their lives back on track in these difficult moments. That’s when people resort to their faith and begin praying. It is faith and religion that helps fill that void in you. That’s how powerful religion can be and my drawings depict the role of religion in a secular age,” she says.

The drawings are, in fact, rubbings, made by scratching charcoal on thin paper over prayer stones called mohrs — it’s made of special clay brought in from Karbala in Iraq where the Prophet’s grandson Imam Hussain was martyred and the belief says that it has healing powers. She has a display of coloured mohrs on the table. “These prayer stones are placed on prayer rugs. It’s a part of the ritual of prayer as the person places his/her head onto the prayer stone as he or she bends down to pray. Mostly, Shias use the prayer stone. The objects that we use to practice rituals have always fascinated me so I’ve used it to create my form of art,” she adds.

It takes about two months to do a large canvas. “Art is like my child. I try to better it and bring in new details daily. If I make a mistake, I let it go, because that adds to the beauty of the creation as the error remains. It’s imperfectly perfect,” she smiles.

She employs an unusual matrix while retaining the tradition of Persian calligraphy of writing repeated letters to produce abstract compositions. The practice was especially strong in Qajar Iran, a time when calligraphers writing in the Shikasteh script would fill entire pages with repetitions of certain letters without literal meaning.

There’s an element of Sufism also in her works. “That’s true as circles are a representation of life, the day-to-day rituals that give structure to life. The connection here is that Sufi mystics encompass a circular sense of logic and even their trance-like ritual is going round in circles,” she reveals.

She knows the exact purpose of her creations. “I’m not propagating anything here, in the sense that one should become more religious. I’m just drawing attention to what’s already happening in society and to the ritual of prayer,” she says.

The artist has her work displayed at the FBI headquarters in New York. “It’s very interesting how it got there,” she says, adding, “Once a month, the employees are asked to select any art piece that they love and the FBI buys it for them. My painting got a high number of votes and so, I’m up there on that wall,” she says, happily.

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

"Messenger of peace" by Shailaja Tripathi in The Hindu, February 18, 2010

A rising star in Pakistan, Sanam Marvi makes her debut on Indian soil with a solo performance at this year's Jahan-e-Khusrau festival.

Listening to Sufi songs against the backdrop of Humayun's tomb sitting beneath a star studded sky is a surreal experience, and many of us have been part of it at Muzaffar Ali's Jahan-e-Khusrau festival, which is back at its original venue after a gap of three years, during which it had shifted to Jamali Kamali in Mehrauli.

Sanam Marvi, a young emerging artiste on the Pakistani horizon, promises to add to the experience with her rendition of the Sufi qalams of both the known and not-so-known Sufi poets. Making her debut on Indian soil, Sanam, trained under Ustad Fateh Ali Khan of the Gwalior gharana, emphatically states that her aim is to introduce, popularise and publicise the rich Sufi heritage amongst the Indian and Pakistani youth. Excerpts from an interview.

On her first ever performance in India

I have heard a lot about the love and respect Pakistani artistes get in India and this is my chance to experience it. I feel here our talent is appreciated more than it is in Pakistan, and may be that's why Pakistani singers are faring so well in India. Rahat Bhai (Rahat Fateh Ali Khan) has often told me that he never feels as if he is performing in a different country.

Also, since Indian audience respond very well to Allama Iqbal's poetry, they will get to hear “Gesu-e-tabdaar ko aur bhi tabdaar kar”. A lot of people sing these songs, but I will try and present in a way that no one attempted before. I am also bringing a collection of Sindhi songs which have not been sung and heard. In Sindh, for every occasion, there is a specific song sung by the womenfolk to the beats of a dhol.

On her training and Sufi music

I have been learning classical music since the age of seven. My baba, Fakir Ghulam Rasool is a singer, so it was natural for me to take up singing. Apart from Ustad Fateh Ali Khan, I have learnt from Abida Parveen also. Having studied Sufi poetry extensively, I am heavily influenced by this genre for it talks about love and peace. I have never performed any pop song in my life. My objective is to perform in every Sufi festival across the world, so that people of my generation and many more to come are familiarised with this vast culture. I am only 24, and if I can get fascinated by it, so can others.

Salman Ahmad, the legendary “King of Pakistani Rock” and founder of the popular band, Junoon, rocked the sold-out standing room only crowd at the posh Aicon Gallery in New York City on February 3rd. Salman was promoting his new book “Rock & Roll Jihad: A Muslim Rock Star’s Revolution,” a journey of how Ahmad uses his junoon (passion) for music to strive and struggle (jihad) to bring about unity between the U.S. and the Muslim world, raise humanitarian awareness, and bring about positive social change in Pakistan.

Junoon is one of the most popular bands from South Asia, with over 30 million records sold. Salman entered the stage area with his guitar in hand to a roaring applause at the packed house. The audience was captivated as the night progressed, with Salman walking the audience through his journey in writing his autobiography, while entrancing the crowd with his Sufi Rock. He performed hits such as “Sayonee”, “Al Vida”, “Saeen”, “Khudi”, and “Jazaba Junoon”.

One of the many interesting questions asked in the Q&A segment was why did he use the word “Jihad” in the title of the book, Salman answered by saying, “Terrorists have stolen the word ‘Jihad’ from Islam. The word ‘Jihad’ was hijacked on 9/11 and it was a sinister case of identity theft.” He is now stealing that word back from them and getting its positive connotation back - the strive and struggle for self improvement. Salman also elaborated on his role as a UN Goodwill Ambassador for HIV/AIDS. He segued into a song called “Al Vida”, which appears on his 2006 solo album Infiniti, which is about a woman named Shukriya Gul, whose story inspired him.

The night, hosted by the Organization of Pakistani Entrepreneurs (OPEN) in New York, closed with a book signing, where guest lined up to buy and get their copies of “Rock & Roll Jihad” signed by Salman.

"President to inaugurate moot on ‘Sufism & Peace’ "Thursday, February 18, 2010, The International News

Islamabad

The International Writers Conference on ‘Sufism & Peace’ will be inaugurated by President Asif Ali Zardari; and Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani is expected to chair its concluding session.

Chairman Pakistan Academy of Letters (PAL) Fakhar Zaman said this while addressing the meeting of the management committee of the International Writers Conference, held at PAL here Wednesday to finalise the arrangements of the conference to be held in March this year.

Fakhar Zaman said it was Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Shaheed’s desire that PAL should hold the International Writers Conference to highlight Pakistan in the international literary scenario. She expressed that wish on the occasion of her address to the inaugural session of International Writers Conference on ‘Literature, Culture & Democracy’ held in 1995. The upcoming Conference on ‘Sufism & Peace’ is being arranged to realise Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Shaheed’s dream.

In the meeting, the lists of national and international delegates were finalised including the names of scholars, who will present their papers in the conference. The committee also confirmed sub themes of different sessions of the conference and formed a number of sub committees to perform different duties regarding the management of the event.

Fakhar Zaman informed that there are provincial committees, which have presented recommendations for the preparation of lists of delegates from all provinces of the country. The purpose of these committees is to ensure maximum participation of representative writers from all the provinces.

He said the delegates would also be presented PAL publications including books on Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Shaheed, adding that the main objective of the Writers Conference is to highlight Pakistan’s soft image in the world.

Sunday, February 21, 2010

JAKARTA — Guided by a Scottish-born convert to Islam, a group of devout Indonesian Muslims is shunning "worthless" paper money in favour of gold and silver coins for their daily transactions.

The followers of Sheikh Abdalqadir as-Sufi -- born Ian Dallas -- trade goods like food, medicine, clothes and phone cards with gold dinars and silver dirhams in line with a strict interpretation of Islamic law.

Their anti-modern views sit uneasily with the naked capitalism of Indonesia's teeming capital, the financial and political centre of one of the fastest growing economies in the world.

"History has proven that, since the prophet Mohammed, the value of one gold dinar for thousands of years has always been equal to the value of one goat," said 33-year-old Kurniawati, who runs a shop in southern Jakarta.

Hoping to follow the example of Mohammad and the first generations of Muslims, the sheikh's followers do their shopping with dirhams worth around 30,000 rupiah (3.20 dollars) and dinars worth 1.43 million (153 dollars).

And they want the government -- or preferably a worldwide Islamic caliphate -- to replace paper currencies with the dinar that was used, in the words of the sheikh, "until the incursions of the kafir financiers in the Muslim lands".

Wakala Induk Nusantara (WIN) is the body responsible for regulating the issuance and distribution of the dinar in the world's most populous Muslim-majority country.

Coins minted in Indonesia are also in circulation in Australia, Malaysia and Singapore, WIN official Riki Rokhman Azis said.

The number of dinars on the local market more than doubled in 2009 to 25,000 pieces, reflecting the movement's growing popularity, he said.

"We decided to mint silver and gold coins in Indonesia following a fatwa issued by Sheikh Abdalqadir as-Sufi in Cape Town of South Africa, banning Muslims from using paper money," Azis told AFP.

Abdalqadir, a former playwright and actor who converted to Islam in the late 1960s, bitterly opposes modern capitalism and advocates a return to forms of Islamic law practised by the first generations after Mohammed.

These include seventh-century systems of trade and, in particular, the requirement of "zakat", or obligatory sharing of wealth, which he says must be done with gold or silver if it is paid in money.

Recent global economic upheavals, with their origins in the US mortgage and derivatives markets, have confirmed in the eyes of the sheikh that the final victory of Islamic finance is at hand.

In a blog on his website dated February 7, the sheikh pronounces the "historical, demonstrated end" of capitalism, and claims Western governments are using the threat of terrorism to distract people from this failure.

"It is time for the enslaved billions of our world today to fear no more the exploding shoes and underpants of the idiot agents of capitalism and to learn what Islam really is," he writes.

One of the key elements to being Muslim, he continues, is "following the messenger in all trade and contracts with honour (and) ... with real-value instruments of exchange like gold and silver".

Some Muslims have countered that a world economy based on gold coins would lead to a powerful cartel of gold-producing countries, while others have noted the potential for market chaos if gold replaced the greenback.

But for the sheikh's followers, such issues seem remote compared to the straightforward injunction to obey the Koran and emulate Mohammed.

"At least four people on average shop here every week with dinars, mostly buying things like rice, cooking oil, soap and clothes," said Kurniawati, a mother-of-three who also runs a dinar exchange service.

She became convinced of the wisdom of using dinars after her husband gave her a wedding dowry in gold coins eight years ago.

"A gold coin was worth 400,000 rupiah in 2002 but now it's at 1.45 million," she said proudly.

Several dinar users expressed a belief that gold never lost value, even though the currency has dropped 14 percent over the past year, according to rates tracked on local website Gerai Dinar.

The rupiah, meanwhile, has gained 29.17 percent against the US dollar since February 2009, while inflation last year was a record low of 2.78 percent. Consumer prices rose 11.07 percent in 2008.

Despite its recent gains, dinar users expressed a deep distrust of the rupiah, which tanked during the 1998-1999 Asian economic crisis.

"The value of the dinar and the dirham always goes up because the price of gold never falls," said food vendor Faturrahman.

"The price of food in rupiah, in contrast, is always rising. It gives me a headache as my income is becoming smaller and smaller."

New Delhi: After traversing over 440 km and spreading the message of “peace and pluralism”, a unique cycle rally organised by the Jamia Millia Islamia will end in Delhi Tuesday.

With the vision of “Dilon Ko Jodo”, the rally started from Lord Brahma’s Temple in Pushkar on Feb 6, paying homage at the tombs of Sufi Saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti at Ajmer, via Jaipur, to finally reach Jamia Millia Islami.

“It is a demonstration by students of Jamia of their commitment to national integration, peace and solidarity,” Jamia Vice-Chancellor Najeeb Jung said Monday.

At least 25 boys and girl students of the university drawn from all parts of India spread the University’s ideals of “peace, communal harmony and religious pluralism”.

The varsity said that these young ambassadors will be received by Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal and Minister of Minority Affairs Salman Khurshid.

Jamia is trying hard to shed its impression of a glorified madarssa and establish itself as a central university with global vision. Over 18,000 students students are pursuing education at Jamia currently.

More at : Jamia organises cycle rally for ‘peace and pluralism’ http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/uncategorized/jamia-organises-cycle-rally-for-peace-and-pluralism_100320500.html#ixzz0g3FQHKjO

If one reads Punjabi classical poetry, with no presumption of Sufism, it is just good poetry of a certain period that has withstood the test of time. I do not know anybody who would claim that just reading and singing of this poetry would bring social change

One of our reputable progressive historians asserted in one of his recently published column that chanting Sufi songs cannot change the situation: one needs a modern theory or model to address contemporary problems. I agree with the main assertion but strongly disagree with the intent he has put forth in his argument. His formulation lacks historical perspective of which he is supposed to be an expert.

I do not know who he is referring to when he claims that a change in the contemporary situation cannot be brought about by merely chanting Sufi songs. What is wrong if certain groups study Punjabi or other classical poetry, make musical compositions and sing? Did they make a public bid for revolution that we are requiring of them? Do they come in the way of those who want to bring socio-economic change applying ‘modern’ theories or models? Obviously they do not. However, in the absence of activist groups or individuals, they become the victims of expectations that they never intended to trigger.

Before coming to any any conclusions we must examine the interface of activist groups/parties and what we categorise as, rightly or otherwise, the Sufi doctrine itself. It is not incidental that the majority of left-wing activists in different Pakistani regions have been sympathetic to indigenous literature, which happens to be written by those whom we call Sufis; probably, anyone engaged in the articulation of new ideas was put under that catchall title. From old progressive groups to Mazdoor Kisan Party (MKP) and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), and all others in-between, they have all been admirers of indigenous classical literature. On the contrary, almost all religious formations and conservatives have been either indifferent or opponents of an indigenous intellectual discourse.

Conservative religious schools and many academics have been, mistakenly, categorising Sufis of all kinds with one broad brush. The conservative-minded had their own agenda in doing so, but many enlightened historians or social scientists have not appreciated the dynamic and dialectic of the indigenous intellectual discourse either. The latest such misplaced analysis — taking Sufis as a monolithic group — has been made by the progressive historian I have mentioned above.

The two major pioneering Sufis schools, Chishtia and Surharwardia, have had very different ideologies, with irresolvable mutual contradictions: Chishtias were mostly anti-status quo while Suharwardias were closely linked with the Delhi darbar. Chishtia leaders from Khawaja Moeen-ud-Din Chishti to Nazam-ud-Din Aulia refused to meet with the rulers while Bahauddin Zikria Multani accepted the official tile of Sheikh-ul-Islam. The Chishtias’ disliking for Suharwardias was so intense that once Baba Farid’s grandson Arif Daria Mauj, who was the gaddi-nashin, took a shower after he had to embrace Suharwardia Rukn-e-Alam. The latter had returned from Delhi after meetings with the rulers and was not requested to stay at Pakpattan as he had wished.

The Suharwardia school was formalistic, with its ideology close to Mullah Shahi of that period. They had a strong aversion to indigenous languages, cultures, and followers of other religions. The Chishtias were open to all people and it is not a coincidence that they, from Baba Farid onward, pioneered writings in indigenous languages. They promoted indigenous music and other forms of arts as well. It is also not a coincidence that almost the entire Punjabi classical literature was created by the leaders and the followers of the Chishtia and Qadaria schools. Therefore, there is no doubt that they inspired humanism and sometimes revolts by the oppressed classes.

The Chishtia also inspired reformist and nationalist movements like the one led by Guru Nanak and other Sikh Gurus. This is the main reason that Baba Farid’s poetry is included in Guru Granth Sahib. Of course the Chishtia had no well-formulated theory of revolution in the modern sense of the word or overtly preached the overthrow of oppressors. But they were not fronts for the rulers as claimed by our honourable historian: most rulers, being conservative Sunnis, used Mullah Shahi for ideological purposes. It is a historical fact that Baba Farid’s life was made miserable by a joint front of Qazi, Mullahs and the ruler of the city of Ajodhan (Pakpattan).

Now let us describe the writings referred to as Sufi chants. Baba Farid’s poetry is humanistic with, of course, religious undertones. Guru Nanak’s writings are diverse, encompassing philosophy, historical commentaries and everything else in-between. Shah Hussain’s kafis comprise the best kind of poetry, which is sung quite often. Waris Shah’s epic Heer and Bulleh Shah’s kafis are staunchly anti-establishment and anti-Mullah Shahi. Mian Muhammad Bakhsh and Maulvi Ghulam Rasool wrote in the form of masnavi or epic stories. Khawaja Farid’s kafis are lyrical with a unique description of the natural landscape of the desert.

Some of these poets were not even traditional pirs and were just following their intellectual pursuits. As a matter of fact, if one reads Punjabi classical poetry, with no presumption of Sufism, it is just good poetry of a certain period that has withstood the test of time. I do not know anybody who would claim that just reading and singing of this poetry would bring social change. However, the question is: can we bring change without mental enrichment by the indigenous literature and culture?

If human beings are not programmable robots, then what goes into the matrix of learning that produces individuals who can bring modernistic change? Coming from a generation of progressives who really struggled to change the socio-economic order through organisational work (not mere Sufi chants!), without much grounding in indigenous sources of learning, we have learnt that much more goes into the make up of a revolution than mere good hearts and theories developed somewhere else.

"Peace Caravan receives warm welcome at Peshawar"Tuesday, February 16, 2010 in The International News

Karachi

After a 36-hour long journey, the “Peace Caravan” reached the Peshawar railway station on Monday morning, where political workers, trade unionists and peace activists of the Pukhtunkhwa province welcomed the participants.

The Peace Caravan of civil society organisations, organised by the Pakistan Peace Coalition, started it’s journey from Karachi on Saturday evening and was joined on its way by workers, trade union leaders, members of different civil society organisations, journalists, intellectuals, writers and poets.

At the Peshawar railway station, about 100 participants of the Caravan were received by their local friends with slogans for peace. Leaders of various civil society organisations like Aman Tahrik, Sungi Development Foundation, Omar Asghar Khan Foundation, South Asia Partnership Pakistan (SAP-Pk), Muttahida Labour Federation and other local CSOs, welcomed the Caravan participants in Peshawar and said their presence has provided an emotional support to the people of the Pukhtunkhwa province.

Trade union leaders Farid Awan and Shakeel Asghar, speaking on behalf of the Peace Caravan participants, said that the people of the entire country were united against terrorism and the Peace Caravan was a proof that the people of the Pukhtunkhwa province were not alone in their difficult time.

On Monday the participants visited Mazar of Sufi saint and poet Rahman Baba. People present on the occasion welcomed them and exchanged their views about terrorism. They said despite the fact the terrorists had destroyed the shrine, a large number of people still visit it to pay homage to the spiritual leader.

Niyaz, which also features multi-instrumentalist Loga Ramin Torkian and producer and synthesizer programmer Carmen Rizzo, blends modern electronica with 300-year-old Persian folk songs to create unique “world music for the 21st century.”

The band’s 2005 self-titled debut featured its signature blend of Sufi mysticism and trance electronica, and quickly established Niyaz as a standout ensemble in a very crowded world-music field. Its latest album, Nine Heavens, cements the “Niyaz vibe, a mesmerizing fusion of Urdu and Persian mystical poetry and remarkably consonant electronica in support of Ali’s beguiling vocals,” wrote Billboard’s Phillip Van Vleck.

Ali was born in Iran and raised in India, and the music of Niyaz—which means “yearning” in both Farsi, the language of Iran, and Urdu, a major language of northern India and Pakistan—reflects both cultural traditions. Working against negative stereotypes has become part of the band’s mission. “In many ways, my life’s work has become about this,” Ali said.”You know, create something that transcends religion and culture and show people that at the core we are all the same.”

Currently based in Los Angeles, Niyaz just completed a tour of Europe and Turkey. Their Bryn Mawr appearance will be the only one in the Philadelphia area.

Visit the Niyaz Web site at www.niyazmusic.com. Hear two nationally broadcast NPR interviews with Niyaz at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=95607779 and http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4623214&ps=rs

Niyaz is appearing in the area at the same time that the Free Library of Philadelphia has chosen Persepolis, a memoir by Marjane Satrapi about growing up in Iran during a time of political revolution and repression, for the One Book, One Philadelphia program. Material about One Book, One Philadelphia will be available at the performance.

Tickets to individual events in the Performing Arts Series are $18 for the general public, $15 for seniors and Dance Pass holders, $10 for students, $5 for children 12 and under, and free for Bryn Mawr, Haverford, and Swarthmore College students, faculty, and staff. Online ticketing through www.brownpapertickets.com For phone orders and information, call the Office for the Arts at (610) 526-5210 or visit www.brynmawr.edu/calendar/performing_arts.shtml for full season information.

KHARTOUM — Former Sudanese premier Sadiq al-Mahdi kicked off his presidential campaign Monday with a blistering attack on the ruling National Congress Party, which he accused of devastating the country.

Mahdi, a leading contender against President Omar al-Beshir in April's elections, also accused the NCP of using the "ethnic weapon" in the war-torn Darfur region.

"The catastrophe that afflicted our country began with the takeover by a minority party that imposed an Arabic Islamic identity on a country of diverse religions and cultures, and treating whoever did not agree with it as a renegade to be fought by jihad," Mahdi told a news conference.

Former president Jafar al-Nimeiri's implemented Islamic law, which imposes harsh punishments for such offenses as extra-marital sex, in 1983, and declared Arabic the official language of Sudan.

The Muslim north fought a devastating two-decade war with the mostly Christian south that ended in 2005, and which the government often portrayed as a holy war.

Beshir deposed Mahdi in a military coup in 1989 and has relied on Islamist and Arab nationalist rhetoric in Khartoum's conflicts with non-Arab, Muslim tribes in Darfur and with the south.

Mahdi, who is also the spiritual leader of the "Ansar" Sufi brotherhood, said the Islam promoted by the NCP violated the "principles of political Islam, which are dignity, justice and freedom."

"The Islamist mutineers were also careful to attract (some) residents in Darfur with policies that tore apart the political and social fabric... and when an armed resistance movement was launched against these policies, they hastened to use the ethnic weapon," he said.

Beshir is wanted by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes in Darfur, where 300,000 people have died since rebels took up arms against the central government in 2003.

Khartoum favoured Arab tribes in the region and relied on Arab militias known as the Janjaweed in its effort to quell the rebellion.

Voting for the general election, Sudan's first since the 1986 poll that brought Mahdi to power, is set to start on April 11.

TUNISIAONLINENEWS- In order to change the image of Arab-Muslim women as passive recipients of history, Leila Aziz , a young woman from a Tunisian father and a French mother has endeavored by dint of an arduous research carried out in Tunisia and in France to carve out a “manifesto” in tribute of 9 well known Arab-Muslim women, including “Khansa” the famous poet, “Rabiaa al Adawiya”, a Sufi who was able to enter the temple of “Waly” ,the Egyptian “Nefissa” and the Tunisian “Mannoubiya” one of the few women to be found in the Sufi hierarchy.

However, unlike other manifestos this one is presented as a ballet, gathering nine exceptional Arab –Muslim women, reunited through the centuries by the creative craft of the young Tunisian choreographer.

Leila Aziz’s gallery also comprises “Fatima Al Fihria”, a woman from Kairouan known for her wisdom and who built with his sister a Mosque and the “Karawan of Fez” University, as well as the Yemeni “Arwa”, also known as the “Little Queen of Sheba” who ruled Yemen in the 11th century, in addition to the Andalusian “Wallada”.

“Razia Sultana” from Delhi and “Roxelane” from Turkey complete this unique artistic gallery signed by the French choreographer Magalie Lesueur.The ballet was selected at the “Montreal Arab World Festival” which is due to be held from October 30 to November 15, 2010. The festival is the only event of its kind in North America, dedicated to Arabic culture. With its three components, Arts de la scène (stage art), Salon de la culture (Cultural meeting place) and Cinéma, the festival aims at throwing bridges between the arts in Québec (Canada) and the Arab world through various forms of artistic expression.

"Return of Khusrau" (original title) published in IndianExpress.comFeb 16, 2010

How about soaking in some qawwali, as Humayun’s tomb shines breathtakingly in the backdrop? Delhi’s Sufi festival Jahan-e-Khusrau is back after a gap of three years and at its original venue. The Humayun’s Tomb was the venue from 2000 through 2006. “Then in 2007, we were asked to shift to Quli Khan’s Tomb at the Mehrauli Archaeological Park,” says Muzaffar Ali, who has conceptualised the festival, “but the place didn’t have the right atmosphere and we weren’t inspired enough to carry on the festival there.” This year, the feisty Pakistani Sufi singer Abida Parveen will regale the audience with the throaty rendition of Dum mast Qalandar. Also look out for Japanese Odissi exponent Masako Ono who will be performing on the opening day. The four-day extravaganza also includes a ballet on Bulleh Shah choreographed by Astad Deboo and accompanied by vocalist Malini Awasthi and drummers from Manipur. The festival is on from February 25 to 28. Contact 96504 44444.

Friday, February 19, 2010

Written by David J. Rusin, published in Right Side News. Sunday, 14 February 2010 18:59(photo of Shaykh-ul-Islam Dr Muhammad Tahir ul Qadri, leader of the Sufi organization, Minhaj-ul-Quran)

French imam Hassen Chalghoumi recently learned firsthand that Islamists despise non-Islamist Muslims as much as they do anyone else. Chalghoumi attracted their ire by coming out strongly in favor of a ban on face-covering veils, a prohibition that is moving closer to reality. Echoing President Nicolas Sarkozy, he described the niqab as a "prison for women, a tool of sexist domination and Islamist indoctrination" that "has no place in France." Moreover, he explained:

Having French nationality means wanting to take part in society, at school, at work. But with a bit of cloth over their faces, what can these women share with us? If they want to wear the veil, they can go to a country where it's the tradition, like Saudi Arabia.

Islamist reaction to his comments was swift and fierce, with a gang of nearly a hundred men storming his Paris mosque during a meeting of an organization focused on interfaith relations:

"They started to cry 'Allah akbar' and 'God is great,'" recounted Chalghoumi. "Then they insulted me, my mosque, the Jewish community, and the [French] republic. They left after an hour and a half."

According to a member of the Conference of Imams, the mob condemned Chalghoumi as an apostate and threatened him with "liquidation, this imam of the Jews."

Chalghoumi is not the only moderate risking "liquidation." Abadirh Abdi Hussein, a Muslim rapper in Sweden, had his head slashed by attackers displeased with his outspoken opposition to al-Shabaab, which has been recruiting young men to join the jihad in Somalia. And, as IW noted in January, Majed Moughni received a death threat after organizing a demonstration by Detroit-area Muslims to denounce the attempted Christmas Day airplane bombing.

Undeterred by this atmosphere of intimidation, many other Muslims have gone on offense against radicalism in recent months. Among them:

*The Muslim Canadian Congress called on lawmakers to ban the niqab, declaring it a "political issue promoted by extremists" that "has absolutely no place in Canada."

*A plan, now canceled, by the radical group Islam4UK to march through an English town known for honoring fallen soldiers earned the very public wrath of numerous Muslims.

*Minhaj-ul-Quran, a Sufi Muslim organization operating in the UK, issued a fatwa against suicide bombings, labeling them "totally un-Islamic" and "violations of human rights."

As the above examples suggest, at the core of the resurgent jihad is a conflict between an authoritarian interpretation of Islam and a more spiritual, secular interpretation. The fate of two worlds - the Western and the Islamic - will be shaped profoundly by the outcome.

Published originally in Meri News, February 14, 2010. The fifth "All India Sufi and Mystic Music Festival, Ruhaniyat," ended on Saturday (February 13). After travelling to cities like Mumbai, Bangalore, Delhi, Kolkata, Hyderabad the event had its grand finale in Pune. Renowned artists from India and oversees participated in the festival.

The finale started with the performance of ‘Baithi Dhamaal, the Sidi-Goma group of Africa. The Kachra khan, Gullu Khan group of Rajasthan presented sufi kalam, the Baran music ensemble, from Iran presented Sufi songs, the well known Parvathy Baul captured the audience’s attention single handedly with her baul songs, the Nizami brothers of Delhi, ended the grand finale with their Sufi qawwalis.

Ruhaniyat, the festival conceived by Mahesh Babu, director, Banyan Tree Events, has evolved into one of the most prestigious, biggest and much-awaited festival for the connoisseurs across India. Completing its fifth consecutive year, Ruhaniyat is a great platform for national and international participants.

Bombs rained on Bosnia and floods swept across Mozambique. A volcano erupted in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a tsunami hit Sri Lanka, wars made their way across Rwanda, Chechnya, Iraq and Kosovo. A month ago, Haiti was levelled. These are some of the places Imtiaz Sooliman's Gift of the Givers foundation (Africa's largest NGO, having granted roughly $27 million US to 22 countries over 13 years) has responded to.

Sooliman, commended for his work by President Jacob Zuma in his state of the nation speech last week, formed the foundation following a mystical directive by a Sufi to help those in need.

The work the foundation does is ubuntu in its purest form. When xenophobic attacks swept across the country in May 2008 in a haze of fire and murderous intent, the foundation was first to offer a helping hand.

It has only one priority: to help those in need, something that was demonstrated by its quick response to the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince after the earthquake struck. A group of South African medics, engineers, doctors and search-and-rescue specialists left their friends, family and home comforts to offer help.

Born in Potchefstroom, Imtiaz Sooliman qualified as a doctor in 1984. A trip to Turkey in 1992 changed his life.

"A Sufi instructed me to form the organisation to serve humanity unconditionally. He said he could see in my soul that I loved serving people and his instruction would be to serve humanity unconditionally for the rest of my life," said Sooliman.

A tall order, but one he is meeting so far.

"At that point, war was raging in Bosnia. The foundation began as a disaster-response organisation, sending 620 tons of food to the country. Soon after that, we developed and deployed a unique containerised, fully operational hospital, a feat of South African engineering."

Humanitarian work is like dodging bullets, some metaphorical, some political, some literal. That summed up the situation in Bosnia, said Sooliman.

"It was a war zone with too many warring factions, no respect for international law and pure ruthlessness among the warring parties."

The "soldiers" in Sooliman's humanitarian corps are ordinary South Africans, compelled to offer their services in every way they can - counsellors, doctors, paramedics, search-and-rescue personnel - the list of volunteers can run into several hundreds.

According to Sooliman there are three criteria for choosing when and where to get involved.

"First, it depends on how massive the destruction is; second, whether there is a call for international aid; third, whether the assistance from nearby countries will suffice. If not, it's time to get involved."

The latest endeavour, in which several teams hauled themselves to Haiti, came at a price. It was the first time an expedition had a marked effect on team personnel.

"The destruction, the loss of life, the hardship, the men, women and children, the suffering has left an indelible mark on the members of our team, who now require trauma counselling."

They brought home with them harrowed memories of mass graves spread with lime, filled with countless, nameless dead. Twenty-nine-year-old Andre Keyser, a paramedic for Gauteng's Emergency Services, recalls this about the mercy mission: "All those kids, I don't think anybody will ever know how many died there. People are just throwing their children away."

According to Prakash Bare, the producer and lead actor, “The film as well the novel (published 15 years back and now sold in 8 languages) on which it is based is all about our glorious past and our land's culture of communal harmony. It actually explores the shared space we had among Hindu and Muslim religions. The censor board had commended our matured approach towards the subject and has cleared the film with U/A certificate.”

The story in the film unfolds, as being narrated by a Sufi (a Muslim mystic). It's about Karthi, who belongs to a prestigious Hindu tharavadu called Meleppullara. The patriarch Sanku Menon had seen some dangers awaiting the family in the future, during the time of her birth itself. But he never told anyone about his anxieties. Karthi grew up to become a beautiful girl.

She falls in love with a Muslim trader Maamootty who comes for trade there. She elopes with Mamootty and the two starts living in a Muslim household. Karthi becomes a Muslim but she could never give up her original beliefs and faith in her traditions. This creates tensions in her life and between communities as well.

Bollywood actor Sharbani Mukerji plays Karthi, while Thampi Antony is Sanku Mama and Prakash Bare is doing the role of Mamootty. Jagathy Sreekumar, Babu Antony and Samvritha Sunil also include the cast. Rafeek Ahmad's lines have been composed by Mohan Sithara. K G Jayan is the cinematographer.

Produced by Silicon Media and distributed by Central Pictures, Sufi Paranja Kadha [meaning "What the Sufi Said" in Malayalam, a major language of India, spoken in South India and the official language of Kerala (ed.)], was part of the competition section in the prestigious International Film Festival of Kerala at Thiruvananthapuram in Dec 2009.

Everybody seems to be an expert on the Islamic Republic of Pakistan these days. You can't turn left without running into some pundit or pontificating layperson moaning heartily about Pakistan's future, lording it with their imaginary Pakistan PhDs over all and sundry. Baron- esses, David Miliband, the fellow who reads the news - they're all Pakistan wonks now.

It used to be that, upon telling someone you hailed from Pakistan, you'd get a benign smile: "Oh, yes, next to India." Yes, next to India, and Iran and China and Afghanistan. Now, the mere mention of Pakistan elicits a knowing wink. "Where's Osama hiding, then? Ha ha ha." We don't know, he doesn't send out a monthly newsletter. Detroit, I would venture.

But just as no one knows anything certain about Islam in today's "I'm an authority because I saw a documentary once" age, there is no country with more mythology surrounding it than my Pakistan. Here are my three favourites:

1. Pakistan was created so fundamentalist Muslims - and no one else - would have a country of their own to call home.In his address to the constituent assembly of Pakistan on 11 August 1947, three days before the country's independence was to be celebra­ted, Muhammad Ali Jinnah called for liberty in the new nation. "You are free. You are free to go to your temples, you are free to go to your mosques or to any other place of worship in this state of Pakistan. You may belong to any religion or caste or creed - that has nothing to do with the business of the state."

Moral of the story? Religious extremists are made, not born. You can thank General Zia ul-Haq, our pro-Islamist president from 1977-88, and his financial backers Mrs Thatcher and Mr Reagan for that. What you have today is not how it's always been. It is said that the indigenous inhabitants of Sindh, one of the four provinces of Pakistan, were the Dravidians. Then came the Aryans. Then the Arabs. And it was with them - pardon the rush through thousands of years of history - that Islam, and Sufi Islam, came to our lands.

Today, the struggle for the soul of Pakistani Islam is being fought between the qawwali- singing, tolerant Sufis and the puritanical Wah­habi Muslim sect, which has been supported for years with funding from orthodox Sunni Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states.

Who will win? The Sufis, according to Ayeda Naqvi, who teaches Islamic mysticism. "It was Sufis who came and spread the religious message of love and harmony and beauty. There were no swords . . . And you can't separate it from our culture - it's in our music, it's in our folklore, it's in our architecture. We are a Sufi country." And it is worth noting that religious, or Islamist, parties have never prospered on a national level in Pakistan. They peaked in 2002, winning 17 per cent of the seats in the National Assembly after the US invasion of Afghanistan, but dropped back to 1 per cent in 2008.

2. Sufis? No, no, no. Pakistan is a nation of madrasa-educated, bearded Taliban enthusiasts.In fact, it's not Islamic schools but rampant corruption that's brought the Taliban and their ilk to the forefront. As Jinnah presciently noted in that same early speech, corruption and bribery are a threat that Pakistan must put down with "an iron hand". He called corruption (and nepotism, in case you were wondering) our "great evils". But no one listened. Puppet parliaments, military dictatorships - every single one of them supported by western powers - and corrupt but pliable civilian rulers all but ensured that our young nation's wealth would be spent on those great evils and little else.

Take the last budget, with its total outlay of 2.5 trillion rupees. Of that, Rs32bn were set aside for education, with another Rs22bn towards higher education. That sounds interesting - not too spectacular, but not too shabby either. Until you read on, that is: Rs166bn were earmarked for the construction of dams; federal ministries walked away with Rs262bn for their own costs; and an income support scheme named after the president's late wife, under which poor people line up to receive charity cash payments (photo with president optional) received Rs70bn. Our politicians prefer these projects to spending on health and education, because it is easier to siphon off funds from them. So, is it any wonder that Islamists who turn up and build madrasas and medical camps end up becoming popular? No. But we owe that to corruption, not to their attractive political philosophies or their ability to grow beards.

3. Pakistan funds religious terrorists such as the Taliban and al-Qaeda.But so does the US, notably Sunni militias in Iraq and once even the Taliban in Afghanistan. Find me a country that doesn't stash its cash in dirty bank accounts and then we'll talk.

Pakistan's problems, like Islam's, are myriad. But CNN doesn't define them for us. They are the problems faced by most people in my country every day - the difficulty of getting access to drinkable water, the rising price of food, the struggle to secure employment when most people are illiterate, the absence of justice and law and order. But no one wants to be a pretend authority on those subjects when there are US drones to drop bombs on villages and a sexy war on terror to talk up. Let's not forget that diarrhoea still kills many more children than the Taliban do in our nuclear-armed state. That's the crux of 21st-century Pakistan's problems.

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